I’m kind of stumped on how to best portray all the colorful, tiny little succulents that my wife is growing in pots in our yard. Their variety and beauty is really incredible. I’ve tried many times to portray them, feeling like I’ve fallen short most every time.
This was taken in the morning, with just a bit of backlighting. I kept this in color, although in the past I think B&W has worked well.
Here, I tried to focus at the center and let everything else go soft. I like the effect, almost as if I had used a Lensbaby.
Close-ups like this are all I can come up with.
Specific Feedback Requested
My challenges are:
keeping manmade parts of the image (such as the rim of the pots, see image in comments below) out of the picture. That means I really have to get in close, like this posted image.
depth of field…what is and is not in focus. When I try to capture the entire plant, with these round shapes all over, something is always out of focus. Maybe that’s OK. I’ve tried focus stacking but my gear isn’t the best for that!
Technical Details
I used my full frame camera with 16-35mm lens.
This was at 35mm with an extension tube attached (I don’t have a macro lens).
f/4, ISO 250, 1/100 second, handheld.
Decided to go all in with the soft dreaminess, so added a slight Orton effect
I love succulents and have trouble shooting them before something chews on them. I’d like to see more DOF and less harsh light. Something I’ve thought about for a BG but have yet to try is to get a big square piece of brown kraft paper (which looks somewhat organic) and cut a slit to the middle and let the stem poke through and try to hide the overlap of the slit. That would let you include more of the plant and give you better DOF without a messy BG.
One thing you might try is to group the pots together and get a garden effect even if you do have to move them all back again. It could build repeating patterns, provide better backgrounds and more colors/shapes to work with in a single frame. You could also combine photos of different plants together into a composite - just don’t ask me how - Diane is your go-to there!
@Kris_Smith hey thanks for those ideas. I hadn’t thought about grouping them. And that’s pretty creative, to consider a composite. Hmmm!
Appreciate your feedback. Happy New Year.
Hi Mark, this is really quite cool. I personally like the out of focus areas. I often use that in my images. I shoot with an 85mm f/1.2 lens and usually shoot it wide open. Sometimes I need an extension tube to get closer.
Shooting at 35mm, means you really have to get close. Do you have something longer? Something in the 70 - 135mm range would allow you some room to navigate and would have the additional benefit of blurring any background even more. In a previous life I shot flowers with a 600mm lens and stacked extension tubes. Of course always on a tripod, but it’s pretty cool what you can get.
The fun with these types of images is to fully embrace the abstract and find the lines, curves, angles that make the image meaningful to you. I hope we see more of these from you.
Mark, I like the gorgeous colors of the plant and the softness of the focus. I’m trying to learn to use my 100mm macro for shots like this. Lots of deletes In this particular image, the first thing that drew my attention away from the rest of the image was the lighter line across the UL corner. The bright areas at the top are also a little distracting. Keep working on this and posting. I’m sure I can learn from you.
@David_Bostock , thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have a 70-200mm f/2.8 that I’ve used in the past, with and without extension tubes. I like the effect it provides. I had the wide angle here because I wanted to get a view of the entire plant, which is unfortunately what brought into the frame the round pot edge. I’m starting to think close-in is better for me, unless I add a background as Diane suggested.
@Chris_Baird, thank you. I’m glad the colors and softness are appealing to you, they are to me! It’s weird, but that line is an edge of the leaf! You can see it in the whole plant view I posted. But it is distracting, yes.
I am unsure about the white along the top. I know that bright and white attract our eyes. Yet I kind of like the ethereal, dreamy effect that whiteness gives. Thanks maybe could have framed it better (or even cropped) to minimize that whiteness. Thanks for taking a look and offering your thoughts!
In this particular image, the first thing that drew my attention away from the rest of the image was the lighter line across the UL corner. The bright areas at the top are also a little distracting. Keep working on this and posting. I’m sure I can learn from you.