Night flower photo help (Page 2): Now that you’ve got a lot of technical advice, time to work on composition. What’s in FOV, best height, best angle, distance, ... Might want to look...

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

Just Ducky wrote:

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 for help.

Now that you’ve got a lot of technical advice, time to work on composition. What’s in FOV, best height, best angle, distance, ... Might want to look at some pics on the internet to get some ideas.

spiper75

The flower is a night blooming cereus. It won't fully open until 10 or 11 pm and begins very slowly opening shortly after sunset. I just photographed mine and used a black velvet background and off camera constant light the first night. Unfortunately I had to move it inside for the shot as it started to rain buckets outside. I also did a time lapse which turned out just ok. I was lucky enough to have another bloom the next night. That time I set up my iPhone to do a video. Same setup: black velvet background draped over all the extra stems and clutter, constant light about 2' away inside a soft box adjusted not eliminate shadows within the flower. The iPhone video turned out better than the time lapse, no post processing necessary and fascinating to watch - more interesting than a single still photo.

olddog Loc: louisville ky

justducky, if I might suggest someone who does fantastic night flower photos is oldhippy. He has one in yesterdays hog. You might pm him for some tips. Best of luck with your project. olddog

ethelsnakes

I shot our Night Blooming Cereus the last two years. It bloomed both years on August 6th. The cactus is outside under a porch light so I set up for the shot and verified the lighting and focus. I put the camera in interval shooting mode with a one minute delay. It bloomed around 1:00am and went from closed to fully open in about two minutes. It was wilted by noon.

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

olddog wrote:

justducky, if I might suggest someone who does fantastic night flower photos is oldhippy. He has one in yesterdays hog. You might pm him for some tips. Best of luck with your project. olddog

Thank you. I will check it out. I’ve seen some of his Regular flower pics and they are lovely.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If there's no wind (i.e. no subject movement) and you're using a tripod you can use a slow shutter speed so there's no need for high ISOs. An alternative to using flash is to arrange it so that there's a lot of diffuse light from various sources. You can add contrast in PP for depth, vividness etc.

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

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.

This is How I did it , Night blooming Cactus @ night painted with a small penlight flashlight about 6 seconds each with a 30 second exposure...I later used CS5 to remove and darken tree ..

(Download)

Amator21 Loc: California

nikonbrain wrote:

This is How I did it , Night blooming Cactus @ night painted with a small penlight flashlight about 6 seconds each with a 30 second exposure...I later used CS5 to remove and darken tree ..

Beautiful. And expert PP.

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

nikonbrain wrote:

This is How I did it , Night blooming Cactus @ night painted with a small penlight flashlight about 6 seconds each with a 30 second exposure...I later used CS5 to remove and darken tree ..

Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for giving me something to shoot for. 😊

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

R.G. wrote:

If there's no wind (i.e. no subject movement) and you're using a tripod you can use a slow shutter speed so there's no need for high ISOs. An alternative to using flash is to arrange it so that there's a lot of diffuse light from various sources. You can add contrast in PP for depth, vividness etc.

Thank you!

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

Just Ducky wrote:

Thank you!

Thank you ! This is a later version with fractalius a plugin by Redfield applied to a second layer and soft eraser used to reveal sharp focus at the centers of the flowers This is part of My " Altered States Series "

(Download)

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

nikonbrain wrote:

Thank you ! This is a later version with fractalius a plugin by Redfield applied to a second layer and soft eraser used to reveal sharp focus at the centers of the flowers This is part of My " Altered States Series "

I will show these photos to My friend who has the plant. She and her husband will love them!

AnotherBob

nikonbrain wrote:

Thank you ! This is a later version with fractalius a plugin by Redfield applied to a second layer and soft eraser used to reveal sharp focus at the centers of the flowers This is part of My " Altered States Series "

Wow! Just a super job of taking and processing. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. /Another Bob

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

Just Ducky wrote:

I will show these photos to My friend who has the plant. She and her husband will love them!

Just Ducky Thanks I am also a Large format fine art printer I have printed a few of these on canvas gallery wrap 24" x 36" they have sold well...The title is "And The Angels Sang"

Just Ducky Loc: Ohio/Florida

nikonbrain wrote:

Just Ducky Thanks I am also a Large format fine art printer I have printed a few of these on canvas gallery wrap 24" x 36" they have sold well...The title is "And The Angels Sang"

You do that professionally for others?