Flowers - Up Close - EXTREME DOF Part 5

This is the fifth and I think final post about close-up photography of flowers, insects, etc...  If you haven't read the others you can live on the wild side and read this one first or go back and take them in sequence.  If DOF brings to mind Department of Finance and EXTREME makes you think we are headed for another bailout, then you really need to go back and start at the first post.

What I am going to talk about in this post is nothing short of magic.  Anyone who has worked in closeup photography knows that there are limits to what can be done with focus and DOF.  While writing the other posts I hoped that everyone understood that all I talked about carried an unspoken warning label "Within the physical limits of the lenses ability to focus".  There are definite limits to how much DOF you can get no matter how small the aperture and the limit increases as you move closer.  Sometimes the best DOF at f45 is not much thicker than a dime.

Here is an example and it is not even really extreme.  I am nowhere near 1 to 1 macro yet even at f22 the DOF will not carry across even the front flower.  Forget about sharp focus across both flowers.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my point of focus was about half way into the front petals.  At f22 the best I could do was to get the front petal and part of the center of the first flower into focus.

Selective focus like this can result in very beautiful images and I do it on purpose often to create soft flowing images.  This shot might even work better with a more open aperture because as I stopped down to get greater DOF I also got more background clutter.

Too bad you cannot have it all, deep DOF to fully cover your main subject AND shallow DOF to keep the background soft and unobtrusive.  Well....welcome to the wonderful world of digital!  You really can have both with a process called focus stacking.

So what is focus stacking???  It is simply a procedure where you take a series of images with different points of focus then blend them together in post processing to create one image that has impossible DOF.

All you need to do this is a calm day with little or no subject movement, a camera solidly mounted on a tripod, and post processing tools.  I use Photoshop CS4 but if you don't have Photoshop you can purchase free standing packages that do the work for you.  Helicon Focus is one of the more popular ones but there are several others.

I took 8 images and blended them together in Photoshop to create this next example.

In the first image I got the tip of the closest petal in focus then for the next 7 I carefully moved the focus point back until by the 8th image I was well back into the second flower.

Notice two things, first all of the front flower and most of the second flower are in focus, second the background is soft, much softer than in the single image shot at f22.  The reason for all the softness in this second image is that all of the 8 images were shot with the lens open to f5.6.

In addition to no subject or camera movement there are a couple of other rules.  You should shoot the images in order front to back and input them into the software in that order.  You should also be very careful to leave no out of focus areas as you move back into the subject, make sure there is overlapping DOF.  If you do not overlap the DOF you will have bands or waves of focus and unfocus which look very unnatural.  Shooting at an open aperture makes it harder to overlap the DOF and requires more images and more processing power.



Here is an example of a flower I shot at f3.5 and blended 13 images to create the final image.  Take a close look at this totally impossible depth of field.

If you have Photoshop CS4 here is how to do this. 

1.  Open Bridge and select the images to be merged, in the correct order. 
2.  Click on "Tools" --> "Photoshop" --> "Load Files into Photoshop Layers"
3.  Photoshop comes up with each image in a separate layer shown in the right side panel for Layers
4.  Select all of the images
5.  Click "Edit" --> "Auto-Align Layers"
6.  Select "Auto" and click OK
7.  When that process is complete click "Edit" --> "Auto-Blend Layers"

Auto-blending layers may take a few minutes, LOTS of processing going on here.  This step reminds me strongly of waiting for an image to come up in the black & white darkroom.  You will have an out of focus image on the screen while the computer works and then, just like magic, the image will resolve itself into something beautiful (we hope).

After all that, you will have an image that probably needs some cropping to clean up the edges and it may have some ghosting that needs cleaning up, especially if there was ANY movement of subject or camera.  You will need to flatten the layers before you can do any serious processing to the image.

Just for fun, here is one more example of the power of focus stacking:

First image is soft and flowing.  I shot it with a Nikon 105 macro wide open to f3.5.  Not very much is in focus, just a very shallow area in the center of the flower.  Background is very soft and undefined.

This second image was shot with the same lens and camera position but the aperture was stopped down to f22 to get greater DOF.

This one has most of the flower in focus but the leaves in the background are also becoming more distinct.  I liked the softer background better so this final image was a focus stack of 8 images all shot at f3.3.

I left just a little bit of ghosting around the large petal that is front and center so you could see what it looks like.  Here is the best of both worlds, I have the flower totally and impossibly in focus with the background soft and unobtrusive.

Life is good......Later!

Flowers & Insects Up Close - Part 4

Well... I slipped in "& Insects" this time because I have a couple of great examples of using flash with insects.  If this is the first post you are reading, it is actually the fourth in a series on Close-Up Photography so go back a few posts to start at the beginning.  This post will deal with using flash.  I did a series on understanding light in early June so if you have never heard of the Inverse Square Law or don't really understand "fill light" then go back to the three part series I did on Understanding Light before tackling this post.  Here we go.....

In a perfect world the natural light would always be beautiful and we would never need to change it.  Too bad we don't live there.  You can OFTEN improve the lighting balance on your subject and background when working in close-up photography.  I think that close-up photography offers more opportunity to manage the light than any type of photography that is done outside the studio.  Remember the Inverse Square Law?  In the examples I gave we measured light travel in feet and talked about how it falls off as it moves out from the source.  In close-up photography we talk about measuring light travel in inches not feet but the same principles hold.  When you are lighting things that are inches from the flash it does not take much power and you have LOTS of control within arms reach.

So what do you need to get started?  Digital camera with a hot shoe flash that will work OFF the camera.  Yep, that is the first necessity - get the flash off the camera.  Many of the newer flash units work off camera wirelessly but an old fashion hot shoe cable will also work.  I find the off camera cable to be so easy to use that I still use it even though my flash and camera will work wirelessly.  Flash power is not a major issue because you are working so close to the subject.  Instead of looking for a powerful flash, be sure to get one that gives you lots of ability to control the power and to turn the power down.

Lets start with the easy stuff - fill flash.  How many times have you found a great subject, flower or insect, but had the light coming from behind.  With back lighting you usually end up with the subject underexposed and the background correctly exposed or the subject exposed correctly but surrounded by a badly overexposed background.  Fill flash to the rescue!!

I tried everything to get this guy to turn around and face the light but no luck.  The background looks great but the subject is underexposed by 2 or 3 stops.

Pop on a flash and place it about a foot from the subject and to the right of the camera.  Turn the flash down to about -2 stops using exposure compensation on the flash unit.  Set the flash mode to Auto TTL.  The result is dramatic!!

I shot this with a Nikon 70-300 zoom with a close-up diopter on the zoom for closer focusing.  The camera was about 3 feet from the subject and on a tripod.  The background was a pink azalea bush in bloom in early May and it was about 4-5 feet from the subject.

Lets first think about the lighting on the subject verses the background in both images.  The background lighting is the same in both images so the flash had no visible effect on the background.  One reason for that is that the flash was 1 foot from the subject but 5 or 6 feet from the background.  The Inverse Square Law states that every time the distance light travels doubles, light falls off by two stops.  Based on that, the light that the flash put on the background would be 4 to 5 stops less than the light it put on the subject.  Not really noticeable.

Why not just leave the flash on the camera?  Any flash is powerful enough to light this insect from 3 feet away.  I want the flash off the camera because I want more control.  I want to control the direction of the light.  I also want to control the lighting ratio between the subject and the background.  Here is the second big thing to think about - you control exposure for the subject with the flash, you control exposure for the background with your selection of aperture and shutter speed.  You need to think about the two as completely separate exposures taken at the same time.

Here is another example to illustrate the level of control you have using flash for closeup photography.

The first image was shot without flash at f22 with a shutter speed of 1/6 second.  It is badly underexposed for the subject.  The second image was shot at f16 with a shutter speed of 1/25 second with flash.  The flash correctly exposed the subject.  The aperture/shutter speed combination allowed for 1 stop less background light in the second image (aperture was +1 but shutter speed was -2).  Notice the difference in the background exposure?  You are making two independent exposure decisions when you use flash in closeup photography.  I held the flash less than a foot from the subject.  It was set to auto TTL mode and I dialed down exposure compensation on the flash to -2 1/3 stops.  The flash correctly exposed the subject then turned off.  The background was exposed based on the aperture/shutter speed combination.

Here is a more dramatic example of the same subject.  In this example I kept the flash set to -2 1/3 stops but changed the aperture/shutter speed combination to f45 for 1/13 seconds.  That is 3 stops less than the original exposure and 2 stops less than the second exposure.  Look at how much control you can have over the lighting ration between subject and background!

So here is the third thing to think about.  In both of the examples I have had a subject where the background was several feet from the subject.  I placed the flash a foot or so from the subject, exposed the subject with the flash and the flash had very little or no effect on the background lighting.  What happens when the background is closer to the subject as in 1 to 1 1/2 feet from the subject.  When the background is a foot or so from the subject you have to do something that very few photographers do.  You have to get the light VERY close to the subject, I am talking 3 to 5 inches!  When I shoot flowers I am always on a tripod.  I hand hold the light while looking through the viewfinder and put it as close to the subject as possible without getting the flash into the image.

Think about this - if the flash is 2 feet from the subject and the background is 1 foot behind the subject then the light on the background from the flash will be about 1 stop less than the light on the subject.  If I move the flash to 6 inches from the subject I can lower the light from the flash on the background to -3 stops.  That is lots of control!  Here is an example where the background is close to the subject and is brightly lit.

I think the background is a little distracting in this image.  My solution was to add flash placed very close to the flower.  The first image was shot at f16 with a shutter speed of 1/15 second so I increased the shutter speed to 1/60 second.  This darkened the background by two stops and made the flower stand out from the darker background. 

So go out there and play with you flash unit!  There is lots of potential for great images and you have a huge amount of control over light in closeup photography.  Have fun and experiment.

Here are a few technical notes that I should leave you with.  I am a Nikon user so most of what I talk about is based on my experience using Nikon camera and flash units.  The Nikon flash is set up by default to correctly expose for the subject without trying to manage the background.  If I want the system to try to balance lighting between subject and background I have to put the flash in a special "BL" mode.  My experience with Canon flash units is that they are by default in a balanced lighting mode so you may need to set them up differently to make all this work properly.  Check you flash instructions but you may have to put your flash in manual mode and set the power yourself.  I am sure that some of the other camera systems from Pentax, Olympus, Sony, and the list goes on....may also have different requirements.

For camera setup, I usually go to manual and set both aperture and shutter speed manually.  The flash is in Auto TTL mode and it handles exposure for the subject as I am selecting aperture and shutter speed combinations to get the look that I want for the background.  My selection is seldom what the meter system recommends for correct exposure.

Flowers - DOF, Point of Focus, & Backgrounds Pt. 3

Depth of field and point of focus are great tools for creative expression in flower photography.  Let's look at a third tool that can be just as powerful - camera position.  Sometimes I think the tripod is connected to the ground and once set it cannot be moved, WRONG!  Even a very small change in camera position can result in a major difference in the appearance of the background and the look and feel of the overall image.

The first trick is to actually see the background.  Attention is always on the main subject but don't let your mind get so focused that you fail to see the background.  The background is a very important part of the total image and can literally make or break the image.

Take a look at these two images for an example of how dramatic a small change in camera position can be.  The first image was shot with a Nikon 105 macro set to f5.6 for 1/8th second.  Even at an open aperture like f5.6 that background is cluttered and distracting.  Opening up probably would not solve the problem so if a less busy background is your goal, the next moves are change the lighting or change the camera position.  Lets focus on changing the camera position.



In the second image I made a very small change in the camera position by moving the camera to the left and slightly up.  I also moved in a little closer to the main subject.  The result is a dramatically different background and because of that, a very different feel for the image.

For an even more subtle background I moved again and selected a different flower that had more space between it and its background and less light on its background.

Once again a very different image in terms of look and feel, all from small changes in camera position and small changes in the relationship of the subject to its background.  This third image was actually shot at f8, a more stopped down aperture offering greater DOF.  The background is softer because it is farther from the subject

So....what do you do when you have moved the camera, tried various apertures, played with focus point, etc....and you still cannot get the look you are after?

I mentioned changing the light earlier, so that could be a possible way to move ahead.  Check out Part 4 of Flowers to see how to use a flash to darken the background.  Is that even possible????  Later....

Flowers-DOF & Point of Focus Part 2

As we saw in the DOF example, the area in focus plays a major part in how your final image feels and looks.  Having out of focus areas is perfectly acceptable and they can be an intentional creative factor in your image.  So.....are all out of focus areas acceptable or are there some guidelines to keep in mind?  Do I want out of focus areas in all images?

As a general rule of thumb, out of focus areas in the background are better accepted than out of focus areas in the foreground. 

In this image you can clearly see the focus fall off as you move back in the image.  I made a decision to keep the first flower in focus.  I set the camera to manual focus, and used DOF preview to find an aperture and point of focus that would give me sharp focus on the front of the first flower. 

I often use the technique of selecting an aperture then depressing DOF preview to manually focus.  This gives me the most complete control possible over what is in focus and what is out of focus.  In this case I selected f11 and my point of focus was about 1/2 way back on the nearest flower petals.  I know that my DOF extends about 1/3rd in front of and 2/3ths behind my point of focus.  The front petals and the center of the flower were the areas where I wanted sharp focus so selecting that point of focus gave me my desired result.

Many people have trouble using DOF preview and some cameras do not offer that option.  With digital cameras you always have the option of shooting an image and then looking at the result.  Examine the image, adjust and then shoot again until you get the look you want.  If you are having trouble seeing the camera display, purchase a camera loupe from Hoodman.  These 3" loupes are designed to shield and magnify the camera display so you can see your image.  You can also enlarge your image in the readout but when you do that you cannot see the whole image at once. 

You can really get the creative tools cooking when you combine your choice of point of focus with your choice of aperture.  With this subject I could use aperture to get all 4 flowers in focus but the price of that DOF is a cluttered background.  I choose to open up the aperture, hold focus on the front 3 flowers and gain a softer background at the expense of losing sharp focus on the back flower. 

Was I right or wrong?  Who knows?  I think so but what is important is the thought process that you go through as you create your images.  Take control of the process!  Pre-visualize your image and use the tools available to you to make the image that you see in your mind.

Another way to control the clutter is by working with the background....more later.

Flowers - Working DOF and Point of Focus

A favorite subject of mine to photograph is flowers. One of my workshop participants recently reminded me of why I love closeup photography so much.  Thanks Larry for your comments on how our eyes and the camera see the world differently.

For the past week I have been working in a local garden area where there is a patch of wildflowers.  Coneflowers, Butterfly Bush, Indigo, Blue Star, Aster, and many other local wildflowers of Arkansas are still plentiful even though it is already very hot and dry here.

When working flower closeups I find that managing depth of field is one of the most important creative tools that I have for showcasing the beauty of my subject.  There are always distractions and clutter around and behind my subject and how I include or exclude those elements has a major influence on the look and feel of my images.

Lets start by defining depth of field and examining how to manage depth of field (DOF) with the camera.  I define DOF as the area of an image that appears to be in focus.  Several factors influence DOF but the two that I will focus on are camera to subject distance and aperture.  In my work in this garden my camera to subject distance ranged from 1 to 5 feet using a Nikon 105 Macro lens.  The closer I am to the subject the more shallow the DOF and the more out of focus the background will appear.  The more I open up the lens aperture the more shallow the DOF and the more out of focus the background appears.

Here are a couple of examples of an image shot using different apertures.  The camera position did not change, I simply shot the two images at different apertures.

This image was made with the lens stopped down to its smallest aperture.

Nikon 105 macro  f40   .6 Seconds

This is the maximum DOF that the lens can deliver at this distance from the subject.  As you can see there is a lot of clutter in the background competing for attention with the main subject.

There are several possible solutions to reducing the background clutter but one of the most straightforward is to increase the size of the lens aperture, or "open up the lens". 

For this second image I opened the lens to its widest aperture.

Nikon 105 macro  f3.3  1/160 Second

The result is a very soft background where the flowers blend together to create a muted pastel background.  This background does not pull the eye as strongly and is much less distracting.

In photography, you constantly are making trade offs.  In this case I traded a cluttered background but the price I paid is soft focus on the main subject.  In the first image the main subject is sharp from front to back but in the second image only the front flower is sharp and focus quickly falls off making the second flower very soft.  This is the direct result of changing the lens aperture and is an example of the creative power you have in closeup photography.

Is soft focus on the second flower a problem?  There is no definitive answer to that question, only opinions.  I personally like the softness of the second image and prefer it over the cluttered background of the first image but neither presentation of the flower is right or wrong.  The power is in your ability to understand how to create a look with your camera and then using that knowledge to create an image that you visualize.

More later....

First Day in the Ozarks

My wife and I arrived in Mountain Home, Arkansas on Wednesday evening.  After two days of "settling in" we finally got out today to check out the Buffalo River wilderness area.  We spent all day today exploring the Buffalo and White River area near Mountain Home.  This was not really a photography day but I did get a couple of images at Blanchard Springs.

This creek emerged from a rock face about 200 yards farther upstream.  I was struggling with dappled sunlight on the stream which always makes shooting water difficult.  The contrast was very high so I shot a series of three images, one at the meter, one at -1 stop and one at +1 stop for each of these three compositions.  I combined the three in post processing to get a more balanced exposure.

I like the way the rocks in the foreground pull the eye into the image by creating a strong line that moves up the stream.  This one has one very bright, overexposed rock that pulls the eye.  I like the light in the foreground but the bright rock is just too much and I think it ruins the image.  Direct sunlight on scenes like this one is always a challenge.

I moved the camera position just a little and then waited until the light was cut down by a passing cloud and shot this image.

I like the exposure better without the bright rock.  Overall this image is a little softer in terms of light intensities.  When I moved the camera I also tilted it up a little and I think that was a mistake.  I like the lower camera position of the first image better.

Here is a third composition I took after moving upstream about 20 feet.  The waterfall becomes a much more dominate part of the image.  The strong lines of the overhanging limb stand out much more in this image and I think they become a distraction.  There is a little sun in the background, just enough for interest but not enough to create unmanageable contrast.

The rocks still lead the eye into the image but that effect is not as strong in this image as it was in the first two.

Of the three, the second is my favorite.  To me it communicates accurately what the area looked and felt like.  So what??

Is there a takeaway from this?  I think so.  The three images have pronounced differences in lighting and composition.  They "feel" different, yet they are very similar, were taken minutes apart, and the camera position was only slightly different between images.

The takeaway for me is that little things really do make big differences.  A small change in camera position, waiting for slightly different light, arranging the elements in the frame differently converts into big changes in the final image.  When you find a subject that you like, work it!  Try different camera positions, higher, lower, left, right, etc...  Far too often I see photographers set up their tripod at a location and work it for 20 minutes without ever moving the tripod.  Get mobile, move around, experiment.  Good subjects are not that common so when you find one that speaks to you, spend enough time with it unlock its secrets. 

My new website is up for viewing at http://www.robertpriddyphoto.com/, check it out.

Finding your Mojo in Event Photography

A recent student and new friend of mine (Linda) called to ask advice about shooting a wedding.  It seems that a friend has asked Linda to shoot the event and since she has never been the one solely responsible for getting it right, Linda contacted me to ask advise.  My best advice was given and rejected...RUN!!!!

In light of that refusal I will do my best to share my experience in wedding photography.  Here is the situation...Linda will be working alone with one camera and one hot shoe flash.  The wedding is indoors so the lighting may be poor to non-existent????  Linda shoots with Canon and has a variable aperture wide to short tele zoom and an 80-200 f2.8 zoom.

First advice - if you know anyone who has a camera and flash that is the same brand as yours, beg, borrow or steal it.  Murphy's Law is in full force at events so having a backup close at hand is always a good idea.  Make sure that both flash units have fresh batteries and have plenty more in your pocket.  Don't scrimp and get the cheap ones, I like and trust Duracell.  As the batteries begin to wear down the recycle time will get slower and slower.  Change out to a new set as soon as you notice the flash getting weaker.

Lighting will be a big issue and since you are working alone with only a single hot shoe mounted flash I recommend keeping it as simple as possible.  First, try to diffuse the light.  There are various types of diffusers available for hot shoe flash units.  Sto-fen makes some simple plastic diffusers that work well.  Gary Fong makes a line of larger diffusers and there are many others.  I think simple is better so I recommend the Sto-fen plastic snap-on diffuser.  When working close to your subject point the flash up at about 45 degrees to further soften the light.

Set up the camera in aperture priority mode and the flash in TTL mode.  Set exposure compensation on the flash to -1 2/3 stops to get a softer more natural look.  Look at the images and adjust from there but I believe that less is better as long as the overall exposure is OK.  Try to get the camera and lens handling the exposure so you can focus on composition and capturing the moment.  Timing is everything and you will miss many good shots if you are constantly working with camera setup and focus.

Get to the event early and look around.  Identify the best spots to do a bridal portrait or group portraits.  Look at the wedding facility and decide in advance where to position yourself for the processional, the ceremony and the walk down the aisle after the vows.  You should talk to the bride before the wedding day about photography during the ceremony.  Most want it but a few don't and a few wedding facilities will not allow it though this is rare.  A few will allow photography but no flash.  If you are unlucky enough to get one of those, get out the tripod and run up the ISO to the highest level that gives decent results.

Linda will want to use a mix of focal lengths, some wide overall shots that show the bride, groom and all the cast of characters, and some longer focal length shots to isolate.  In my experience the group shots and wide images are nice and a must have but the intimate close-ups are the stars of the show.

Since Linda has an 80-200 f2.8 I would recommend using it a lot and keep it open to f2.8 or f4 for most of the shots.  This will allow her to isolate people, faces, hands, etc...and to blur the background to further isolate.  You can also work at a comfortable distance from the subjects and get better candid images.  For any group work use a wider lens, 30mm-40mm, and close down the aperture to around f8.  If the group is more than 2 or 3 people deep you may need an even smaller aperture to carry DOF from front to back in the group.

If there is enough light to shoot without a flash, keep a close eye on the shutter speed and adjust the ISO up if necessary to get a shutter speed of 1/125 or higher.  I would shoot in JPEG fine large and use single point auto-focus for most of the event.

Tripods are too slow for good candid photography but they do come in handy for group portrait work.  You can put the camera on a tripod, frame the shot then step away from the camera to make final adjustments to the group.

Check the images often and adjust exposure as necessary to make sure that the bride's dress is not blown out.  Turning on the blown highlights warning on your camera is also a good idea.  If you hold detail in the bride's dress most other things can be corrected in post processing.  If you blow the dress you will have problems correcting for it later.  Remember, digital is cheap.  While I have never used auto bracketing at an event I have also never been afraid to shoot LOTS of images and when time allows I have shot various exposures of important shots.

Here are a few key moments to be prepared for:  The bride and her dad walking down the aisle, he may kiss her at the altar, the exchange of rings, the bride and groom kissing after the vows, new husband and wife walking down the aisle, the first dance, cutting the cake, and the toss of the bouquet.  Talk to the bride before the wedding day and find out what she has planned for the events.

Weddings are beautiful events so just relax into it.  They are not paying big bucks and should be appreciative of anything you do for them so shoot for yourself.  Enjoy capturing the expressions of joy and love that abound at weddings.  It really can be lots of fun!  Good luck.