Photograph Flowers on Cloudy Days

Although we tend to think of gardens and sunshine and photography as going well together, in fact, the best time to photograph most gardens and most flower close-ups is on cloudy--even rainy-days. The problem with shooting on bright sunny days is that, as cheerful as they are, that bright sunlight tends to burn out the highlights of light-colored blossoms and it also creates a lot of contrast. Contrast is one of the toughest things to control in terms of exposure, so the more you can avoid it, the easier your life will be. I photographed this peony blossom in one of my side gardens and it was just starting to rain when I made the photo. A few things pushed me into making the photo at this particular moment: one was that I knew that the blossom was at its peak and that a heavy rain would probably destroy the flower (it did). But also, I'd been watching this plant for days hoping for a great shot, but the light was always so bright that I couldn't hold any detail in the petals. The heavily overcast sky of a rainy day was just what I'd been waiting for and it gave the peony a beautiful rich pink color with a minimal amount of contrast--just perfect conditions.

There are some tricks I could have used if I'd really needed to shoot on a sunny day (like putting a diffusion screen between the flower and the direct sun to soften the light), but I really just wanted a "straight" shot made with no extra gear. That decision was part laziness but also, I was using the picture to illustrate a book for beginning photographers--and they weren't likely to own diffusion screens (or the light stands to hold one), so it seemed more honest to shoot the photo in the simplest way possible. Anyway, even though it was raining when I spotted the blossom, I knew that it was a "now or never" shot and so I hauled out the tripod, set up the camera and shot. Good thing I did--the next morning the blossom was completely misshapen by the pounding rain that came during the night and I would never have gotten the shot. The thing I like most about the picture, ironically, is the soft light of the very heavy overcast skies.

So next time you get a cloudy day, head out to the garden and do some close-up work--you'll be pleasantly surprised at how uniformly nice all of your exposures are and just how much color saturation you get in the flowers.

Put on Your Travelin' Shoes

If you'd like to know more about the lighthouse in this post (and the previous one), then visit Jeff Wignall's Travel Guide: Great Places to Photograph. I started that blog years ago, then like most bloggers, I spread myself too thin with too many blogs abandoned it. But with summer here, it's time to put on your travelin' shoes, so that blog is back--we'll see how much energy I can muster to keep it going. Check it out once in a while though, because traveling to new places is one of the reasons we're on this earth--yes? By the way, you'll notice that this shot is different but almost identical to the one in the previous post (different people on the beach, for one). What does that tell you I was using in the way of a photo accessory? Oh, those of you who yelled out TRIPOD! step to the front of the line! Another reason for using a tripod: You can set up a scene and then wait for things to change (for people or animals to walk into a scene, for instance) without losing your composition. You can buy a nice tripod for less than you think--check out this nice lightweight unit from Manfrotto: Manfrotto 7302YB M-Y Tripod with Ball - Replaces 725B.

Photoshop Tip: Adding Texture Overlays, Part II

Last week I showed you a quick example of what a photo looks like when you add a texture overlay layer to it in Photoshop and I thought I'd explain the process in just a bit more detail. It's really a very simple procedure and it can create some very fun and interesting effects. If you do any kind of graphic arts work or design brochures or newsletters, using texture overlays can be a nice way to customize an otherwise ordinary shot--making a new photo look old, etc.

Basically you only need two things to create the effect: a photo that you want to add a texture too and a texture layer. You can either create your own textures by photographing interesting textures (a piece of canvas or fabric, a close-up of barn siding, a rusted old metal sign surface, etc.) or you can buy them. I bought the texture show here from the FloraBella Collection--they're inexpensive and beautifully done (and you get them in 300 dpi, so if you need to reproduce or print your photos, you'll have all the resolution you need). The set of textures that I bought had three different versions (cold, warm, B&W) of 25 different textures--so 75 textures in all at full resolution for $40. A steal if you ask me. But again, you can easily create your own and that's a fun learning experience. If you are shooting your own textures, try to use side lighting because that will bring up the three dimensionality or "nap" of the textured surface.

To combine your photo and the texture simply open your photo and the texture (separately) in Photoshop (or another editing program) and then use the move tool to drag the texture onto the photo image. Then use the opacity slider (top right of the layers palette) to adjust the density of the texture until you get the level of texture that you want. In the shot above I used an opacity of 29%. You can then also play with layer-blending modes to further enhance the blend (though as I recall I just used the "normal" blending mode for this shot). I did crop the image a tad after combining the two layers.

If you look at the three images above you'll see a) the finished combination b) the before photo and c) just the texture. One thing you have to be sure of is that you have both your original photo and the texture set to the same resolution and color space. Color space usually isn't that big an issue since and I just override the texture's color space to match it with the photo (you'll get a warning screen automatically that will do this for you). If the texture happens to be larger than the photo, you can move it around (again, using the move tool) until it "sits" on the photo where you want it. When you have the image you want, flatten it in that position (or lock the two layers) so that you don't move it around accidentally.

Creating the right positioning and opacity is really a very visual and instinctive thing and it's a lot of fun to play with the various blending modes. The thing I like about the final image here is that it gives the lighthouse photo a kind of "found" old postcard look--like the kind of image you might find while going through a bin of old snapshots at a yard sale.

Any questions, just post a comment and I'll get to them.  By the way, unrelated note, I saw my book Exposure Photo Workshop on an Apple iPad MB292LL/A Tablet (16GB, Wifi) the other day--Wow, is that cool! I've already decided to write my next book for iPad and Kindle only--no print version! No trees will die for my next book!

My New Digital Basics Book is on Amazon

If you're new to digital photography, or still confused by some of the basic concepts of exposure (shutter speed, aperture, etc.), you might be interested in my latest book Focus on Digital Photography Basics (A Lark Photography Book). It was just released on Amazon today! This is a true basics book and starts at ground zero, so there's nothing in it that will scare anyone away. Other topics in the book include:

Digital Camera Basics

Learning About Lenses

Exposure

Understanding Light

Using Your Flash

Getting Sharper Picutres

Composition and Style

and Going Beyond Your Camera (printing, organizing, archiving, etc.)

There are also dozens and dozens of good photo examples--including photos that I've never published before. Hey, Mom's Day is coming--what more can I say!

Experimenting with Texture Overlays

While finishing up the revision of my book the Joy of Digital Photography I did some experimenting with texture overlays and I'll write more about them in a day or two. Basically using an overlay is just a matter of using two images: one of a normal subject, the other of just a texture. You then merge them in Photoshop and create a blend (using the opacity setting) between the texture and the subject. It's a lot of fun and you get some very interesting results. I've been using textures sold by a company called the Flora Bella Collection and, again, I'll write more about this topic and show you what a straight texture file looks like soon. In the meantime, this is Mama Kitty, one of my two cats, and one of the Flora Bella textures.

If You Grow it, Bugs Will Come: Four Lessons

Last summer I had a client that wanted me to take some photographs that included bugs in them. That's a nice request and a fun challenge--but they needed the photos the next day. I thought their request was a bit nuts and never expected to be able to actually find and photograph a bug on command, but I actually completed the assignment--and was even able to give them a choice of bugs--including this green-looking bee (I have no idea what it is). The trick was just sitting in my garden, camera on tripod, and waiting. Low and behold, within about 10 minutes of sitting there staring at some black-eyed Susans, a small moth showed up. Then some bees. Then this green thing.

Even though I've spent most of my life gardening, I guess I never realized just how many bugs hang around gardens--because in the past I either ignored them or was annoyed by them. But suddenly, with an assignment on the line, bugs became my friends. I was able to spend almost an hour photographing this little guy because (lesson number one) he kept coming back to the same flowers over and over. And also, once I set up the camera next to a particular blossom (lesson number two), he (or she) pretty much ignored me.

Later I got even more hip (I'm slow on the uptake sometimes) because once the light fell off of the flowers I was shooting, I picked some flowers, put them in a vase and put the vase on a picnic table in the sun--and, amazingly enough, the bugs followed me. While not as many came to the flowers in the vase, apparently they like the sunlight (lesson number three) because they were ignoring the flowers in the shade in my garden and hanging out with me in the sunlight.

The last lesson for the day was that you should always take on a challenge even if you think you might fail. What's the worst I could have told this client? Sorry, no bugs today? That's not my fault! But as it was they were pleased, I made some cash and the bugs are now famous.

The bugs are waiting for you--so if you're looking for something fun to shoot, go sit out in the garden. By the way, I used a 105mm Micro Nikkor lens and a 20mm extension tube for this shot and I used a small aperture to get some depth of field.

More Fun with the Lensbaby, Baby

Here's another shot with the Lensbaby Composer (see the previous post for more on Lensbaby). I'm having quite a bit of fun with this lens and have written a full page about it for the revision of my book the Joy of Digital Photography. Maybe I'm being influenced by seeing Tim Cury's extraordinary new Alice in Wonderland film (go see it if you haven't--one of the best films I've seen in many years), but I think we all need to step away from reality now and then--if only visually. If you want to check the pricing out for Lensbaby, try clicking the B&H ad in the margin or just go to Amazon:  Lensbaby The Composer for Nikon F mount Digital SLR Cameras (Nikon) or Lensbaby The Composer for Canon EF mount Digital SLR Cameras (Canon).