Torch cactus bloom
Apr, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I snapped this one in my personal garden where I grow a variety of plants.Time
I had to patiently wait for the bloom to open up. They only stay at its best for less than a day and having missed out on a few of them already I wasn't gonna let this one go. It finally unraveled around 1100.Lighting
The lighting was tricky. Since the sun was already high I was dealing with a lot of bright mid-day light. However, it did provide with exceptional detail.Equipment
I have been running my Canon t5i for as long as it's been available and while I'm looking to upgrade my gear I can't seem to bring myself to do it. The lens is Canon 50mm f1.8 which is another workhorse of mine; cheap but definitely worth having. They don't call it the 'nifty fifty' for nothing. I also used my Dolica tripod to get as steady of a shot as possible. Other than that, nothing too fancy here.Inspiration
I always say you don't have to travel far to take exquisite photos. I grow a wide variety of edible and ornamental plants which provides me with tons of ideas and inspiration right here in my backyard. It's amazing how you can turn fairly ordinary things into works of art. I spend a great deal of my time back there already so everytime I feel like something could make for a great shot I whip out my camera.Editing
I use exclusively Adobe Lightroom for all my photo post editing. I find the program very intuitive and packed with features that are easy to grasp. Generally, when I'm post editing flowers or something flashy, I want it to stand out. That means upping the contrast a great deal, turning down the whites a bit in order to prevent a wash-out effect, and sometimes applying some filters whenever warranted. This particular photo also required playing around with the temperature a smidge just because the ND filter I used tends to tinge the colors a bit. From here on out it's just playing around with the curves.In my camera bag
Virtually all the equipment I own, which isn't much. My canon t5i, Canon 50mm f1.8, Canon 10-18mm, and sometimes my canon 70-200mm zoom lens. My Dolica tripod, an intervalometer, and a bunch of sd cards. It is a sort of a run and gun loadout but it gets the job done.Feedback
One of the most important features for me when capturing flowers, plants, and blooms with lots of detail is to use the magnifying glass function on your camera. This way you punch all the way in and get your focus pin sharp. Additionally, I always like to include a little bit of where the flower is coming from. In this case the cactus barrel. Just a personal preference but it makes for a great contrast of colors and textures. Lastly, by using the 50mm prime lens, it'll give you a nice shallow depth of field making everything in the background blurry so there are no distracting elements.
