We my venture to the butterfly facility turned two fold into an orchid adventure. I was a bit overwhelmed seeing all these beauties around and sure wished they had had more butterflies about for photo opps but I had a great time!
Orchids are one of my favorites and always shot indoors. I really like using natural light and finding flowers that are highlighted by it. These are a combination of flash, flash fill and natural light, it was more finding isolation and comps that I hoped would be enjoyable. Orchids are IMO challenging for DOF and for reproducing the colors as accurately as possible.
I hope you find these enjoyable for their color and form and a few for their comps. Any comments or questions are welcomed. The lens was a Tamron 70-300 zoom that is very inexpensive but has been a great performer for me. The FF or 1.3 crop body cameras IMO produce a much nicer DOF for this type of work.
Here we go and I apologize for the quantity as I just felt like putting them all together to get the feel of what I saw
Special thanks to all the others here who have recently shot florals, Tim and Sevan and to those that have taken some time to give them a try. I find them a relaxing stimulating challenge!
super nice Karl, I like the colors, forms, and the comps. And the bokeh, great job! My favorite is the kite orchid, very graceful! Would you pm me the lenses you used?
Karl, these are just gorgeous. You've done a wonderful job with framing (to get OOF BGs where you could), with your apertures to maximize DOF. Colors are very Canon-like to my eye, i.e., a little on the "clinical" side, but that's not much of a nit, and most of your viewers are's going to "nit" you on it. Orchids are extremely difficult to shoot - yes, the blooms are fantastic, but you always see them indoors and the gardeners aren't thinking of the photographer's challenges. You out-thought them here.
I'm so glad to see you back posting, and I also am thrilled to see in this set how far your skills have developed through the years. There's a reason all the florals are dedicated to you.
Karl,
Excellent my friend you have some colors and forms here
that I've never seen before great job as per the norm for you when it comes to
these dazzling displays of natures palate
You are the master of the florals, Karl. These are stunning. I love how you get the dark BG to highlight the blossoms. I had to keep going back to try to pic favorites. I think my picks are #3, 5, 9, but all were wonderful!
Nancy
Holly flower power Mario!!! Rocking set Karl, nice critter as well. You really are the flora man. But for some reason #8 looks fake around the stem area, looks like you cut the flower out and put it on a cleaner BG, the stem edges and too sharp! Just my thought.
Yeah flash will do some things like that. But you have to admit the edges are razor sharp causing that effect to appear. I always speak my mind, good or bad if it needs to be said it should be said, that's why it is called constructive criticism.
you have some colors and forms here