Paperwhites again...help?

[davidryan]

Hello all--

Here is another shot-- this one seems too dark to me but the other photo I posted people have said the flowers are over exposed. Which do you prefer? High exp, medium, or low?

http://ryans.smugmug.com/photos/47741637-M.jpg (http://ryans.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=47741637)

Overxposed?

http://ryans.smugmug.com/photos/47741642-M.jpg (http://ryans.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=47741642)

Medium?

http://ryans.smugmug.com/photos/47938842-M.jpg (http://ryans.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=47938842)

Low?

What are your thoughts?

All shots were taken while firing my 580EX canon flash that I read about here-- I love it!

Ryan:wink

[ginger_55]

I prefer the last one, but that might be the composition. On the other hand, the amt of light might determine the composition.

I think that last one is pretty on my monitor.

ginger

[ginger_55]

The second one does look over exposed a bit, to me.

[davidryan]

Thanks Ginger-- I found it difficult to judge the photos-- because I like them all. The last one has this nice glow to the flowers, but the others "pop" with a vibrance unique to the subject. I found it difficult to leverage the amount of light considering I was using an all-black background in contrast with these white flowers. I appreciate your comments.:clap

[Dee]

I love the lovely detail in the last shot of the petals, but I like the green in the one above it. In the "dead of winter" seeing "spring" green seems the whole point of growing paperwhites.

I'd suggest two photos taken on a tripod and blending them in Photoshop or some other editing software program so you can see the spring green, and yet maintain the detail in the white petals.

[howard]

The first does look over exposed on my monitor but I took it into PS and it's not burnt out. It's certainly not reading 255,255,255 anywhere. However it does get pretty close and I can't see detail in some areas, but, it will probably print very well.

The one's which you have toned down/darked a bit do look a little better on screen. Of course there's another but :): and it's that the flowers facing the camera had less light and so do look a bit dark.

They're all good though. Howard

[DanielB]

The first does look over exposed on my monitor but I took it into PS and it's not burnt out. It's certainly not reading 255,255,255 anywhere. However it does get pretty close and I can't see detail in some areas, but, it will probably print very well.

The one's which you have toned down/darked a bit do look a little better on screen. Of course there's another but :): and it's that the flowers facing the camera had less light and so do look a bit dark.

They're all good though. Howard

last one is the best. but like ginger said, i really like the greens in #2. so because the composition is so close. maybe you could layer them? keep the stalks of #2 and the flowers of #3:dunno

[davidryan]

Thanks all for the suggestions/input. I'll fool around with them some more. This dgrin site is like a new toy for me. Between smugmug and this site, I'm kept very busy!:clap

[Rohirrim]

Tough subject to light well. I prefer the lighting on the flowers in the first one, however the lighting is a bit unequal. The brighter flowers in the background are distracting. But I agree that the background is too dark.

The flowers in the second one are overexposed to me

The composition of the last one looks better to me.

Some things you could try:

Shoot Raw and expose for the flowers. Then use layers in photoshop to brighten the background
Use a tripod and expose for the flowers in the first shot, then shoot for the background. Combine the shots in Photoshop
Have fun

[davidryan]

Thanks I'll try that-- guess I'll have to grow some more flowers...they already died :cry