corny flower pictures

sineadw

Not sure if I'll be able to articulate this at all..

Julie let me borrow her 50mm and extension tubes and I had a bit of a mess about with them and some tulips yesterday. I've seen some beautiful macro work here and elsewhere, but I just can't seem to emulate it. Mine all end up looking like badly taken greeting cards. Maybe its just the subject is overdone, or me being too self-critical. I dunno. I think I'm hitting burn-out I've taken so many shots this past week. Its something I noticed in my film stuff too though. Its been bugging me for a while.

Does anyone else have the same problem with macro stuff? Part of me shies away from it because there seems to be an assumption that taking a close up with a shallow DOF automatically produces a fabulous image, no matter the subject or composition. Is that just me? I do love macro work. I'm starting to realise how good a photographer you have to be to do it well though.

Not sure what I'm asking here lol. How does one avoid the clichés? I know thats like asking "how do I take a good photograph" :rolleyes: Does anyone have good resources, print or online, on the subject? Or an opinion with a little more clarity than my own? I'm feeling fuzzy this morning.

PaulieC

not sure aif this is exactly what you're looking for Sinead, but there is an article in this month's Pratical Photography on macro flowers. Come to think of it, the whole issue may be dedicated to macro stuff

DaireQuinlan

I had to comment on this one I saw on flickr the other day on my contacts list...
(not my photo)

http://flickr.com/photos/e-person/456329660/

In all respects its a bit of a cliched macro flower shot but I think it really works somehow. The colours are great and theres a nice layered effect going on with the DOF that adds to it immensely.

I think that they CAN be done and done well, I've got a few I'm mulling over whether to expose to the world or not (needless to say they're not in the 'done well' category !). I might stick them up and we can have a Macro Flower Competition. Cheesiest picture takes the prize !

sineadw

Brilliant idea Daire! For once I'd have lots of stuff to enter with!

Scuttles off to back garden...

Valentia

I don't know the answer Sinead but I know exactly what you mean.I have done very little macro and what I have done has been done has been done on the spur of the moment. I think, though I'm not sure that once you start doing macro on a regular basis that your brain starts to see things in a different way.

I noticed that in a small way. You begin to see details, little unusual patterns, that kind of thing. So I imagine hat macro is a bit of retraining the mine and practice. The more you do it the easier it is to see potential shots.

DOF with me on macro is still a fair amount of luck. It's frustrating to see so many shots where I have thought that the focus point was exactly where I wanted it and discovered afterwards that in some cases not a shaggin thing was in focus.

I'm hoping that patience and perseverance is the answer. I'll report back in a few years time :eek:

mikeanywhere

I agree with Valentia.

When I got my dedicated macro lens I thought yeah, goy the tool now its a case of taking loads of awesome pics. In reality, not as easy as I thought. You really have to look outside the box in what you are trying to do, do I increase/decrease the aperture, what part of the flower do I want to be in the picture - oooooohhhh, way to many options to consider!!!

Saying that, the one or two that came out the way I wanted I was really happy with. It is taking me a lot longer to do these than expected but when I get more experienced at it I am hoping they will be much much better.

Valentia

DaireQuinlan wrote:

I had to comment on this one I saw on flickr the other day on my contacts list...
(not my photo)

http://flickr.com/photos/e-person/456329660/

In all respects its a bit of a cliched macro flower shot but I think it really works somehow. The colours are great and theres a nice layered effect going on with the DOF that adds to it immensely.

I think that they CAN be done and done well, I've got a few I'm mulling over whether to expose to the world or not (needless to say they're not in the 'done well' category !). I might stick them up and we can have a Macro Flower Competition. Cheesiest picture takes the prize !

This is an example of how all our tastes differ I don't think that photo works at all. It's too busy, not well framed and the depth of field isn't narrow enough to give a strong focus to any specific area. If the background was softer and less detailed it would be better but even still, the cutting of petals at the edge of the frames makes it look disorganised. I know if I took it I wouldn't post it. But that's just my take on it but as I well know, even with my own photographs, my favourites are not necessarily liked by others and shots that I take that I am not mad about are loved by others. 'Tis the way of the world.

DaireQuinlan

Valentia wrote:

This is an example of how all our tastes differ I don't think that photo works at all. It's too busy, not well framed and the depth of field isn't narrow enough to give a strong focus to any specific area. If the background was softer and less detailed it would be better but even still, the cutting of petals at the edge of the frames makes it look disorganised. I know if I took it I wouldn't post it. But that's just my take on it but as I well know, even with my own photographs, my favourites are not necessarily liked by others and shots that I take that I am not mad about are loved by others. 'Tis the way of the world.

ooer ! I'm definately not putting mine up now !

Valentia

DaireQuinlan wrote:

ooer ! I'm definately not putting mine up now !

Point missed I think :rolleyes:

It doesn't mean I am right and you are wrong. All it means is the we all se things differently. Why should that stop you posting?

elven

I always loved getting up close and personal with some flowers and the extension tubes - I used a whole roll of velvia on some tulips, years ago, and this is the person that used to take a month to get through a single film... since i went digital, it just seemed too easy. In fact, my very first shots with my 350D when I got it last april were of tulips, and some lisianthus as well. At the time I had a fairly practical motivation - if the light was crap outside, I could do that in the house, never mind the weather. Still now, if it's a dull day and there's no interesting sky, macro is the most satisfying subject for me because it isn't so dependent on the weather as a grand scene.

But then it started to get to that "what's the point?" stage when I thought, it's just like shooting fish in a barrel, you frame the thing in the middle of a square frame or on one of the thirds and use a shallow dof to throw the background out of focus, bang, you have a decent flower macro... and I started to leave it alone. Then winter came, and that gave even less inclination to shoot the flora. But... now spring is back, I just couldn't help but get back into it. And what I've found (for me, at least) is this - it's not about the flower. Everyone knows what they look like, so taking a picture that has the entirety of the bloom in the frame and (mostly) in focus does little more than show you what the flower looks like, in no new and exciting way. I think, again, opinion only, that to get a stage further it's about bringing something else to the picture that you wouldn't have seen in a casual glance. Kind of like portraiture when you try to put across something of your subject's 'essence' (ugh, I almost vomited saying that but you know what I mean) and not just a record of what it looks like. It seems most people see my flower macros and think that it's just a case of getting in so close with such a shallow DoF that the actual flower is unrecognisable, but I'd like to think there's a bit more to it than that kind of formula... there are whole little worlds in the petals and stamen and leaves, and there are lines and patterns and shapes and texture, and that's what I'm into.

It's near impossible to shoot a flower macro that isn't going to look cliched. You're just going to have to decide if you like it or not, and screw the rest of them, shoot for yourself, whatever you like. Half the time, it's the process that's more fun than the final product anyway... and a fabulous excuse to buy yourself flowers

P.S. Beware of going so abstract that people think a lily is a meringue (read the comments)

sineadw

I thought it was a meringue when I first saw it too Julie

I think to a certain extent with the shots I've taken its the shooting fish thing. I was looking through them and my 11yr old who thinks everything in the whole world is stupid remarked on how nice they looked. And they do - thats the thing. I went out and shot a load of weeds the other day to see if dandelions (I hate them) would look good in macro and they bloody do! I got to the stage yesterday that I was looking for the flaws in the tulips to focus on them - the little brown bits at the edge of the petals.

Maybe I'm just not a flower person? I'll have to get Practical Photography and have a looksee at the stuff. Maybe it'll inspire me to greatness

CraggyIslander

Its been up for c&c before, but this is so far my best result. Although strictly speaking its not a flower, but a plant... but whos counting?



Just ordered an A4 size print of a slightly different crop...... am anxiously awaiting how it will look in print

elven

Also... try leaves rather than just flowers. That could inspire you more... if you don't care about flowers, you won't care for flower pictures...

Are there any flower macros on flickr that you like? I'm just looking through my favourites just now to see what it is that seems to be common through all the ones I think are really good.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/405621081/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcassaa/363338001/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rusticrelics/176715437/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lbpuppy/196087301/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonhightower/258786255/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13202909@N00/212008650/

DaireQuinlan

Fred C. Dobbs wrote:

Its been up for c&c before, but this is so far my best result. Although strictly speaking its not a flower, but a plant... but whos counting?

Just ordered an A4 size print of a slightly different crop...... am anxiously awaiting how it will look in print

Its a honeydew ? Carnivorous plant if I remember correctly. Though of course none of those other carnivorous plants ever seemed quite as cool as that Venus Flytrap. But I digress ... As regards the picture, the plant is as though its MADE for macro ! Nice shot.

Valentia, I wasn't being entirely serious. Most of my shots I take for myself , and if anyone else likes them its an added bonus. Plus as Elven points out, sometimes the process is half the fun, why else would I spend at least half my time messing around with crappy old antique cameras and coffee developers :-)

magicbastarder

elven wrote:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13202909@N00/212008650/

is that not a hyacinth?

Valentia

DaireQuinlan wrote:

. Most of my shots I take for myself , and if anyone else likes them its an added bonus. Plus as Elven points out, sometimes the process is half the fun, why else would I spend at least half my time messing around with crappy old antique cameras and coffee developers :-)

I agree 100%. That about sums it up for me too.

Valentia

Insightful piece elven and very helpful.

I'm still finding the machanics of taking the pic difficult. This rocking back and forth to find focus etc. I think the creative eye will find it hard to kick in until tht side of the process becomes second nature.

elven

Valentia, do you hand hold or use a tripod? If you do use a tripod, one of those sets of focusing rails might help you, if you're willing to fork out a bit... I don't know how many shots I miss by having the focus a couple of mm out I recently tried stopping down to 2.8 instead of 1.8 to increase the DoF slightly, and I hated the bokeh, it went hexagonal, ugh.

Here's a nice blog by a bloke who does some lovely soft flower macro stuff, he gives some interesting commentary on his methods too: http://macroartinnature.wordpress.com/

Valentia

Thanks for the link. I'll have a gander later. I use a tripod sometimes, depends on where I am. I haven't done that much really. Just a day or two with no real plan. But that about sums up my photography

Borderfox

Botanic gardens has some beautiful flowers in bloom at the moment

Spyral

lots of people do flowers its kinda cliched, you could try bizare things like the close up of the side of a cardboard box where the corrugations are or stuff like that.