Night flower photo help: I’ve been asked to photograph a night blooming flower. I really have no experience and would appreciate your suggestions. I have a Sony a6600, a Sony 55

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

I’ve been asked to photograph a night blooming flower. I really have no experience and would appreciate your suggestions.
I have a Sony a6600, a Sony 55–210 lens, a Sony 18–135 lens and a tripod.
The hope is to get a photo with a black background.
I realize some post processing may be needed.
Thank you.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Just Ducky wrote:

I’ve been asked to photograph a night blooming flower. I really have no experience and would appreciate your suggestions.
I have a Sony a6600, a Sony 55–210 lens, a Sony 18–135 lens and a tripod.
The hope is to get a photo with a black background.
I realize some post processing may be needed.
Thank you.

Tripod mounted Sony with 18-135
Set ISO at 2000
Set F stop at F8

Have fun. Do it about 15 minutes before sunset.
Use Black material or black paper or black mat board as backdrop

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

PixelStan77 wrote:

Tripod mounted Sony with 18-135
Set ISO at 2000
Set F stop at F8

Have fun. Do it about 15 minutes before sunset.
Use Black material or black paper or black mat board as backdrop

Thank you! Before sunset?! I wouldn’t have thought that...
I’ll give it a try tonight. I doubt it will be a full bloom yet but it will give me a trial run. 😊

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Just Ducky wrote:

Thank you! Before sunset?! I wouldn’t have thought that...
I’ll give it a try tonight. I doubt it will be a full bloom yet but it will give me a trial run. 😊

Yes Just before sunset for some awesome color

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

This is a photo of the flower I want to photograph. Someone else had taken the pic and I did the post processing.
I don’t have a lot of experience on that either.

(Download)

bleirer

What is the flower? I ask because there will be different habits you'll want to know about. 4 oclocks for example open up in late afternoon, so there is some day light shooting possible. Others can close as soon as the sun is up, so a flash might not make them close but a continuous led might. Plants know night from day with a pigment sensitive to the red/far red ratio. It might take a little research into the floriculture books.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

If you can use a flash, problem solved. Recommend covering it with a softbox. Off camera is best if you have a remote trigger and you can use reflectors as well to avoid (or construct) shadows. I take a set of colored reflectors with me including, gold, silver, which can produce some cool effects.

If you are in a lower light situation with no wind, maybe indoors, then up the f stop and really slow down the shutter speed. That will give you a decent DOF and still allow for a good exposure without having to crank the ISO up.

If you still can't get enough DOF - focus stack.

If for some reason, you have to crank up the ISO. Take multiple shots the align and average them in PP. If you are at ISO 1600 and average 2 shots together, it's like you took the shot at ISO 800. Here's a good article describing the technique: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-averaging-noise.htm.

Have fun.

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

bleirer wrote:

What is the flower? I ask because there will be different habits you'll want to know about. 4 oclocks for example open up in late afternoon, so there is some day light shooting possible. Others can close as soon as the sun is up, so a flash might not make them close but a continuous led might. Plants know night from day with a pigment sensitive to the red/far red ratio. It might take a little research into the floriculture books.

Yes, Stan. You are correct. This is a Night Blooming Cereus. It is a cactus. It actually begins to bloom between 9 and 10 pm and is finished by morning. The hope is that it will be visited by a moth for pollination which will produce a large juicy red fruit. I don’t know if it is edible...

Here are some trial run pics that didn’t work well because I used the cheap, light tripod that fell apart during the process and the result is that the first pic is the only one not hand held.

(Download)

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

Strodav wrote:

If you can use a flash, problem solved. Recommend... (show quote)

WOW! That’s a lot to cover!
I didn’t take the first photo—just post processed it in Pixelmator.
I will check out your link.
Thank you for all the thinking material. 😊

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

Just Ducky wrote:

WOW! That’s a lot to cover!
I didn’t take the first photo—just post processed it in Pixelmator.
I will check out your link.
Thank you for all the thinking material. 😊

You're welcome. Been there, done that. First time, I just took my camera, tripod, and a couple of lenses. It came out OK, but not a portfolio shot. The next time, I was prepared.

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

Strodav wrote:

You're welcome. Been there, done that. First time, I just took my camera, tripod, and a couple of lenses. It came out OK, but not a portfolio shot. The next time, I was prepared.

That’s what I’m trying for—at least prepared. 😆

stogieboy Loc: Marlboro, NY

If the flower is sheltered, so as to not sway with a breeze, you won't need external light with a long enough exposure. Night photography is fairly easy, once you know what you're doing. Practice on it at night before you "need" to photograph it, to get your settings down. Typically, you can get a pretty good exposure with less than a minute of the shutter being open. Of course, you'll need to ensure the flower doesn't move during this time.

Please post the results (if you can), I am curious to see how it turns out.

bleirer

I know nothing about this plant, but this article says it only blooms for one night. No pressure.....

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

bleirer wrote:

I know nothing about this plant, but this article says it only blooms for one night. No pressure.....

Each flower blooms for one night but there are multiple blooms on the plant. Hopefully, more than 1 opportunity. 😆

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

stogieboy wrote:

If the flower is sheltered, so as to not sway with... (show quote)

The area is somewhat sheltered...

I’m gonna try a dry run again tonight.
My friend doesn’t think it will full bloom until at least tomorrow.

I might share what I get tonight and ask again for help/comments.