I’ve been experimenting with capturing ordinary grocery store and nursery flowers against a white background. The goal was to simplify the image as much as possible. Only have the subject in the image. No supporting actors. No leading lines. No out-of-focus background. No bokeh. Simplify, simplify, simplify. And at the same time I used focus stacking to ensure the nuanced complexity of the entire flower (not just around a narrow depth of field) was crisp and clean. I wanted to see what the outcome of this simplicity/complexity pairing produced. So far I’m pleased with the outcomes.
Feedback Requests
I’m happy with the technical aspects of the image making process.
But I’m curious to get some feedback on whether you like the image or not. [On a related note, I also made a version with a black background. Roughly half of the people who saw both versions liked the black background better.]
Pertinent Technical Details
Captured the focus stack using the Nikon focus-shift feature. To ensure Helicon Focus does not accidentally include noise in the final image, I first ran all the individual frames through DXO’s PureRAW4 converter.
Each frame: 1/50 sec at f/13, ISO 250, 105 mm macro, tripod
Franz: This is very nicely done. I like your concept and the execution. Would love to see this after all of the petals fill in as these are one of my favorite flowers. We have had them in our garden on several occasions but none this year. Thanks for bringing them back to mind.>=))>
Franz, the white background and your stack do a great job of showing off the shape and details of this flower. I’m not a fan of “super clean” portraits like this, but that’s just me. I am reminded that the best portrait photographers and portrait painters like to include something in their picture that captures a bit about the personality of their subject…food for thought…
Franz, did you set up the flower over a white card - or did you select the flower and replace the BG with white? Either way, you have plenty of choice for exploring complementary colors using this approach. You could even present two or more combinations side by side. How many shots did the stack consist of?
Background was a white card behind the flower. I use the focus-shifting feature in my Nikon camera to capture the stack of images.
I usually take more than what I need (e.g. smaller step increments, starting a bit before the closest distance, and sweeping a little bit past the farthest distance). Then discard the images I don’t plan to use (in the actual Helicon Focus stack) in Lightroom.
On average I find this method less time consuming than not taking enough stack images and having to go back and repeat the whole process over again.
