Cherries Come To Life
Cherry trees are nothing but stunning pink.
Cherry trees are nothing but stunning pink.
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Jul, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken during springtime in Davis, CA, USA. I sought out a particular grove of trees in my city that are known for producing excellent cherry blossoms and I was not disappointed wit their display upon arrival.Time
After an early dinner, I convinced my family to take a short drive and walk to see a wonderful grove of flowing cherry trees. We arrived about 17:30 and I immediately went to work setting up my tripod, diffuser and macro lens. The warm light of the falling sun was absolutely perfect. The problem with this time of day turned out to be the endless mosquito attacks we suffered while I was shooting. They were relentless, but so was my desire to capture this wonderful flower specimen.Lighting
Though the light from the fading sun was perfect, I was I wanted to experiment with and push it to "exceptional". So I looked for the perfect flower bunch that would allow me to shoot with a dark background behind it, as the background is just as important, if not more so, than the foreground elements themselves. Next, I had my excellent-assistant-son prepped with my diffuser between the flower and the sun and then took two shots: one with the diffuser and one without. Diffusers add a wonderful softness to otherwise harsher light, but the results often lack the punch of a fully sunlit object; this is especially true of flowers. So I took one with and without and brought them back to my processing engine for experimentation.Equipment
This image was taken with a 100mm macro lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5D3 which in turn was mounted on a Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod. The diffuser was a small, portable one I always carry with me.Inspiration
My desire to shoot this style of photo came from a long line of thinking over the course of a year; How could capture both the soft subtle light that we all know and love to delicate flowers bathed in but still provide the highlight punch that really makes a flower glow. This was the first time I had tried this particular technique and my later experimentation and successes, in fact, all tie back to this first image. I knew the Cherry blossom flowers would be a perfect test case to test my experimental double lighting exposure techniques.Editing
I won't lie: I spent hours in photoshop with this project and experimenting with the images I captured in the field. I manually blended the two best images: one that was taken with the diffuser and one without. These two images were loaded into separate layers in photoshop, placing the highlight-heavy image on top of the diffused one. I then used some carefully created masks to create just the right balance between the images. After a fair amount of experimentation, I found just the right mask that retained the amount of softness I wanted but brought in the best highlights from the brighter image.In my camera bag
The equipment in by bag varies widely depending on where I'm heading out toward; I always struggle with the balance between what I think I may need and the weight I would place on my back to carry everything I want. The only body I (normally) carry is my Canon 5D3, but the lenses and other equipment I bring along vary greatly. If I'm headed out in the car for some side-of-the-road shots, everything goes with me. Because, why not!? But if I'm going hiking, I have to consider the difficulty of the terrain against what I'm likely to see. I almost always take my 100mm macro lens, portable diffuser set and tripod to help me discover the tiny beauty found on this planet. And more likely than not, I carry my 24-105L with me because it lets me take in the whole scene. But, I'm also in love with the telephoto ranges since the let me find true minimalism shots by shooting with the narrow angles of view they provide. Sometimes, like today, I'll carry my 100-400mm on a significant hike because I'm hoping to shoot wildlife or distant features on the side of mountain. But if that's too much weight, I'll shift down to my 70-200 f/4 instead. Whatever I'm forced to leave behind, I always miss. But I've also made the mistake of taking way too much up a hill and regretted it badly while keeping the rest of my hiking troop waiting for me. Life is a balance and there are always trade offs when packing a bag.Feedback
Macro shots take such precision and exactness; more so than many other forms of photography. The depth of field and focus in a macro shot can make or break the image, so bracket the f/stop and use the depth of field preview button on your camera to test what it'll look like. Check your focus in a magnified live-view mode and hold your breath, for even small gusts can shift the focus plane significantly. But more than anything else in macro work: think of the background first. It must not draw the eye and distract the viewer, so a good super-dark or super-bright evenly-lit background works best (but with just a hint of detail and texture to give the image the context it needs). Finally, the lesson from this experiment revolved, as always, about the light. Think carefully about what the best light on your subject will be, what time of day that light will likely occur and how you can bend the light to your advantage in the field to make your image jump into the minds of your viewers. PS: don't forget your mosquito repellent.
