Evolution104
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TulipPretty much, I shoot outdoor pictures. Anyone who has seen the pictures of my "studio" lighting knows that I wing it with whatever I can lay my hands on. Me have a proper studio setup? 
But winter simply won't go away and I needed a spring break today, so I decided to play around with lighting.
This was done with a black t-shirt for background, a ceiling light, a fluorescent shop light, a 40 watt plant light and a halogen spot (well, I said I'd use whatever I could find  ).
Not sure I accomplished what I was after, but it doesn't seem half bad.
C&C welcome, especially any help with the lighting.
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Jan
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 gorgeous flower! 
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Evolution104
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| Jan wrote: | | gorgeous flower! |
Thanks Jan!
I bought it at the garden store this afternoon. They said that the pedals will close up when it gets dark, then re-open in bright light. Something I need to see to believe!
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Jan
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you are welcome! I bought flowers the other day due to bad weather to practice my macro...lol I think you could add that in the competiton for colours or the one you had posted in your alphabet challenge with the fall scenery. Both pictures would make a great entry.. but that is just my humble opinion..lol
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creators
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Lovely shot John, and I'm impressed with the array of lighting you employed.  My only temptation might be to coool the picture down a little, but the lighting and shot are lovely.
I had to type coool instead of  because of the green peril, which is is coool but only when you want to be . 
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Evolution104
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| creators wrote: | | I had to type coool instead of because of the green peril, which is is coool but only when you want to be . |
Thanks Keith!
When you say coool () down, do you mean exposure level or colour temperature?
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creators
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Ah, that'll be temperature then old chap, the exposure is perfect.
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Evolution104
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Many thanks. I thought that's what you meant, but wanted to be sure.
I'll give it a go. I had the camera set on auto WB, since with my array of lighting - lol - I didn't know what was best.
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creators
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Oddly enough I have just caught a cold from daring to put my camera on Auto white balance this very night as is, and am now having to go the other way and warm things up a bit. Gnnnn. I shall pop one of the little dears in the portrait section.
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hil26
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Lovely shot, but it seems to me that the centre colours, yellow/white, seem to be a bit "blown" (can't think of another way to decribe what I can see at the minute - will come back if I can - on the verge of overpowering maybe?? ).
Not too sure if that's what Keith means when he says about the temperature?
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creators
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That's pretty much what I meant Dave, I felt it might benefit from cooling down, I did this one by reducing red and increasing blue.
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Evolution104
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| creators wrote: | That's pretty much what I meant Dave, I felt it might benefit from cooling down, I did this one by reducing red and increasing blue.
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Ah - very nice - thanks Keith!
That centre section with the yellow bothered me, and I took numerous shots in an attempt to correct for it. Bracketing for exposure did not help! 
This picture was #70 of 77, to give you an idea.
Your ps skills to the rescue my friend! Many thanks. I think I was on the right track, as I had a go with the channel mixer, but I made the mistake of trying to boost the green, which had horrific results.
After 77 attempts, I have no idea how to fix this in-camera.
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Evolution104
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Had a go at correcting this.
I selected the flower separately so as not to initially affect the stem and leaves.
Then I selected the stem and leaves for greater control and to keep the green more natural and close to the actual plant.
Fiddling with the channel mixer and brightness/contrast resulted in something I'm pretty happy with 
Thanks Keith!
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hil26
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now that is much better, great photochopping going on
Quick question - did you try bracketing and using hdr program - photoshop or photomatix (or any other hdr program for that matter) to combine the images?
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Evolution104
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| hil26 wrote: | now that is much better, great photochopping going on
Quick question - did you try bracketing and using hdr program - photoshop or photomatix (or any other hdr program for that matter) to combine the images? |
I tried lots of bracketing. But the results in terms of contrast were unchanged for the most part - in other words, the stamens and stigma/style were still mostly indistiguishable from the yellow background. So as a result, didn't bother trying HDR.
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hil26
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in the words of fleetwood mac - oh well!!
thanks for letting us know
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Evolution104
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OK - you made me curious 
This is HDR using Photomatix:
I'm not happy with the way it tinged the white parts of the pedals with more red, or the colour cast it gave the pistil.
To be honest, by comparing, it appears that I took out too much red with the channel mixer too.
Fiddling around like this simply has no end to it 
For comparison, here are all three side-by-side.
..........Original................Channel-Mixed.....Photomatix HDR
  
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Venom
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Interesting comparison's, personally prefer yours and Creators photochoped versions, look cleaner - colours are better and more true to life IMO
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Evolution104
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I agree.
I'm almost tempted to mess around with it some more, but I really must stop procrastinating on getting my taxes done, or I'll be in big trouble!
I'm doing one last HDR using different exposures to see if it changes much...
This really is more fun than paying taxes 
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creators
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I much prefer the channel mixed version, the colours look crisper, the contrast is better and the whole thing looks sharper.
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Evolution104
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| Evolution104 wrote: | | I'm doing one last HDR using different exposures to see if it changes much... |
Nope - no significant difference.
Sigh, I guess I'd better do my taxes... 
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Evolution104
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| creators wrote: | | the colours look crisper, the contrast is better and the whole thing looks sharper. |
Yup yup!
Thanks for the help Keith! It came along nicely with your guidance.
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creators
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A pleasure messing about with a fine picture with you mate. All's well as ends better, as we say round these parts.
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hil26
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| creators wrote: | | I much prefer the channel mixed version, the colours look crisper, the contrast is better and the whole thing looks sharper. |
agreed - now go and do your taxes - LOL
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Evolution104
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| hil26 wrote: | | creators wrote: | | I much prefer the channel mixed version, the colours look crisper, the contrast is better and the whole thing looks sharper. |
agreed - now go and do your taxes - LOL |
I can relax now - they're done. Fortunately I've been working at them for a couple of weeks now. Just need to make copies and write a check
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creators
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Well done, now back to the important things in life. Have you been following the ground swell of people fighting the IRS because there is no statute that says US citizens must pay tax on personal earnings?
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Evolution104
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| creators wrote: | | Well done, now back to the important things in life. Have you been following the ground swell of people fighting the IRS because there is no statute that says US citizens must pay tax on personal earnings? |
No. As far as the IRS is concerned, I have no personal earnings. They belong to the IRS 
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creators
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Reminds me of the line in that old song (can't remember what it's called) 'I owe my soul to the company store'. So what changed? 
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