briandelaney
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briandelaney
July 19, 2016
Thanks, I'm quite amazed my photo got anywhere given the class of the competition
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my garden in Victoria, Australia in mid summer.Time
I took the photo in the early morning because I liked the way the light illuminated the Kangaroo Paw flowerLighting
The early morning light suited this photo as it didn't over saturate the reds ( A problem with my Nikon's I've found ) also the low angle of the sun helped to pick out the hairs on the petals and at the same time gave a pleasing amount of shadow .Equipment
I use a Nikon D5100 and Tamron 90mm macro with Fancier Tripod. I don't use a flash ( I don't like either the way it over balances the camera and makes it difficult to get into small spaces ) I have an LED ring light which works for me. I find the ring light's constant light makes it easier for me to accurately set the exposure.Inspiration
I love these plants, I have different colours and types of them planted all over my garden. I was going to let my Ducks out and noticed that the lighting was just perfect. So I dashed back inside got my rig and snapped several photo's before I lost the light.Editing
As I only shoot in RAW, some post processing was required. First I adjusted the white balance. Next adjusted contrast and brightness and finally ran un-sharp mask. This sequence is pretty much the same one I use on all my photo's, I don't like doing a lot of post processing I want my photo's to be about my skill with the camera not skill with Photoshop. Although with some macro photo's I have found photo stacking to be a useful tool because often it is just not possible to get the depth of field required without it.In my camera bag
I travel pretty light, usually only one camera body, a couple of lenses ( Nikon 28 - 70 and Tamron 90mm Macro ) plus my trusty Tripod and ring light, add to that an ND filter and a remote and that's about it. However I do have several bags ready to go the one I just described is my macro kit. I also have a wildlife kit ( camera, 400mm and 70-210mm lenses, tripod filters and flash. And my street kit ( camera, 50mm, 28-70mm lenses and flash. I find that having three kits sitting in their bags ready to go saves me a lot of time. sometimes I might add a specific lens or some other item to a kit if I think it might be needed.Feedback
Think about depth of field, it's the one thing that can't be repaired in Photoshop. and always use a tripod for macro shots. I will quite often see what I think is a great shot but after I have that shot I force myself to zoom and focus around the area for a while to see what other shots are there. This shot is a result of that discipline, asit was not the one I set out to take, but rather one which presented it's self as I was hunting around. I hope that make sense .