One shot in an afernoon of experimentation that produced limited results. In retrospect, I should have lit this more from the front. Oh well. Looking for constructive criticism or perhaps suggestions on how to light flowers in a dynamic way. Thanks!
Thanks for commenting on my picture Becky, I have looked through your lovely portfolio and am very impressed, nothing amaturish about any of them. I like the strong colours in this one, the composition is simple but very nice. The lighting, well as mentioned try card reflectors or crumpled up aluminium foil, if you are going to do lots of flower pictures make your self a semi circular reflector covered in foil, just leave a hole in the front for the camera. The back lighting works well and it'll bounce of the reflector onto the front of the flowers. The flashlight idea is also very good, the trick is take the image with the longest shutter speed you can, it'll give you more time to paint with light. Best regards - Richard.
Love the backlight on these Gerberas... just a tad more light on the front would have added that special something, but I think that just dancing a flashlight over them during your long exposure would have done the trick. We need to buy some more flowers and bring the lights home for go #2!
The rim light on the vase is excellent... lets my eye follow it around. I'm not too sure about the vase/plastic cup though. It's a great colour, but it looks like a plastic cup to me... not very dignified for these beauties!
OK, you asked for it. With flowers and when using lights try to have a light (the brightest) set to the light glances across the face of the flower, preferably from the back. And add some fill with a card if you don't have more lights.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is a good first attempt. That's the big plus when doing studio work, almost anything can be a re-shoot.