Sunflower Bud
Apr, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was one of many taken in my flower garden in Leesburg, Georgia in the summer of 2014.Time
It was taken at about 2:00 p.m. on a slightly cloudy summer day.Lighting
Lighting is by natural lighting. It is diffused by cloud cover to provide a more evenly lit subject. I prefer to use natural lighting. If the sun had been harsh, I probably would have used a white poster board or cloth of some kind to hold above the subject to create the same diffused lighting affect.Equipment
The photo was taken using a Canon Rebel T5i. A Canon EFS 18 - 55mm lens was used which included a Vivitar HD .43 x 58mm wide angle lens adapter. A tripod was not required for this photo.Inspiration
The sun flowers were not intentionally planted. We had brought in "fill dirt" which included cotton gin compost and remnants from a neighbor's garden from the year before in order to create a raised garden. Apparently, they had grown sun flowers the year prior. My husband originally thought they were weeds when first growing and wanted to yank them out. However, I convinced him to leave them be to see what they were. Ultimately, we ended up with sun flowers that grew to 10+ feet tall, had numerous blooms and buds at one time and each flower head grew to be a rather large size. Yes, I still have seeds from these flowers. They are magnificent! They provide a great display of color in my garden every year. And the birds and bees love them!Editing
As with all of my photos, I take them first in to Adobe Light Room. I make minor adjustments there such as cropping and exposure adjustments, then finish in Adobe PhotoShop. Not much was done to this particular photo. Some cropping. A tad of color adjustment was all that was needed.In my camera bag
I use a back pack style of camera bag. I find they are the easiest to grab, carry, and protect my gear. I always shoot with my Canon Rebel T5i at this time. Eventually, I hope to upgrade, but it is a good all around camera and I will keep it as a back up. I keep five extra charged batteries for my camera. I have two of the Canon EFS 18 - 55mm lens' one with my HD wide angle lens adapter attached as used for this photo. For my wide shots I use a Canon EFS 10 - 22mm ultra wide lens. I love it! It works extremely well. For my zoom lens I have a Canon EF 75 - 300mm lens. I'm not entirely happy with this lens. I will upgrade this lens soon. Hoods, as well, for all of my lens'. An array of filters which include: Star 4, Star 6, Star 8, UV, CPL, and FLD. Even though it doesn't fit into my back pack camera bag, I feel that I must mention my tripod. I have many tripods, but only one that I take with me everywhere and use 98% of the time. I have gone through cheap tripods and I know that a lot of folks may have the idea that a tripod is a tripod and as long as it holds the camera it's fine. Well, it's not! The quality of tripod makes all the difference. My go to tripod that I truly love is my Dolica Proline GX600B200. It's that good! My flash is a Neewer TT560 (I will be upgrading for a faster regenerating flash). I use a Neewer hood on the flash or a diffuser on the flash in most cases that I use it. And of course, I keep extra batteries! Keeping an assortment of miscellaneous items as everyone does, such as: Lens cleaning items and extra lens caps. Five 32G memory cards in a card wallet. As well, an SW Development remote switch which I utterly love!! I use the remote switch when taking extended exposures including BULB and when shooting may be difficult (as when I have to pose animals and take pictures at the same time). Last, but not least, a hot shoe adapter. I have additional equipment such as light meters and an assortment of tripods that I do not use much and thus are not my grab and go items. As well, I keep a bag of props to use for people shoots. It includes: A blanket, small bottles of bubbles, stuffed animals, rubber balls, and glass globe/orb.Feedback
Try to use a low ISO, 200 would be best. That will enable you to really get a crisp clean photo that you can zoom into without issues of grain. Without the wind blowing, you should be able to use a shutter speed of 125 to 160 without the need for a tripod. Crank up the aperture as far as you can (crank down the f stop). Around f5 or f5.6 is good. These settings will give you a shallow depth of field thus keeping the focus on the object. You want a good amount of light, but diffused light. You can bounce light using white poster board and you can filter/diffuse using cloth. Capturing the tiny details makes the photo. The hairs on the bloom itself. Macro photos are an art all of their own.
