jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Not a small aperture, it needs a small f stop (large aperture). 😃

bohleber Loc: southern Indiana

Thank you.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Probably not. Check his profile.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

I think focus stacking for "close up" type situations like the OP mentions is surprising easy if one tries it a few times. It quickly gets very tricky and difficult when using it for extreme macros.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

Just adding to previous posts. The closer you get to the flower you photograph the more the background will be out of focus. You want to use the fastest f-stop you can, so a lens with a 1.2 will do fine.

Using a bellows will work great. Extension tubes do too.

A close-up lens set is another alternative and the least expensive route.

Another approach is to photograph the flowers indoors where you can place a backdrop behind the flower. This one was photographed outdoors with a black metal post behind it
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-734767-1.html

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Do you mean one flower of an arrangement or one growing outdoors? If an arrangement you control it and isolate that flower so a shallow depth of field will make everything else out of focus.

If growing outdoors and you have any other flowers at the same distance most of the advice will not work. Though there is an old trick of putting a clear glass filter on the lens with Vaseline or similar smeared everywhere but where the flower you want in focus is.

The advice to use post processing would be my choice.
I would do it one of two ways:

1. Take a picture of the flower(s) in focus, take another with everything out of focus.
Then in post isolate the flower you want in focu by selection and create a layer with everything else removed/erased.
Take that layer and put it over the layer with everything out of focus and blend them through focus stacking.

2. Using brushes blur, smudge or smear the rest of the frame except the flower you want in focus.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Just seems like an unnecessary complication. Shoot the flower you want with a relatively large aperture lens wide open or whatever aperture provides an inch or so DOF (focus carefully). The DOF should be adequate to keep a single flower in focus but narrow enough to blur all the others - simple.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

It depends on whether you want the flower in the center of a field of flowers in focus, your you are looking to have a specific plane in focus. One will use a radial mask gradient, the other will use a linear mask gradient that is reflected.

Here is a linear reflected mask method that I wrote up a few years ago:

http://pixeldiarist.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-miniaturize-photo.html

And if you want just the center in focus, there are several ways to do this - using feathered radial masks.

As you can see in the blogpost, it involves a feathered mask (linear/reflected or radial), and a duplicated blurred layer, and using the mask to fade between the sharp and the blurred layer. Simple in concept, and easy to execute. There are ways to use the radial mask tool in the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop as well.

Using a large aperture will provide roughly the same result as the image in the blogpost, but less controllable. There is no camera setting possible that will blur the perimeter of an image with only the center in crisp focus - post processing is the only way to do that. The effect can be adjusted depending on which blur filter is used and how strong it is set to. These gradient filters can also be used to adjust brightness and contrast, color saturation, color temperature, and even to create a vignette.

Focus stacking won't help much at all unless at the shooting distance it is not possible to use a small enough aperture to get the entire flower in focus. Increasing the distance will help, but if the subject is not moving, focus stacking can help a lot.

Below the first is an image using just aperture, and the second where only the center is in focus, perimeter soft, and done entirely using a circular gradient.

(Download)


(Download)

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Or you can use one sharp image, and create a duplicate blurred layer, and a gradient filter - see my post above.

hahersh Loc: Burlington, ON, Canada

Lensbaby :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpesX66o-4U

home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

be careful
assuming PhotoPills calculates the DOF using my d850 and the 70 to 200 mm lens; at 200mm, f2.8 and at 4 feet the DOF is 7/32". Also the program calculates that Field of view in landscape mode is 9"x 6". See the problem.

If I use the 300 mm that I do not have; the FOV becomes 6"x4" at 6' and f /2.8 the DOF is 7/32".

experiment
I was often disappointed until I learned that DOF is based on lens mm, distance and f stop.

Julian Loc: Sarasota, FL

F/2.8 in general is considered a large aperture.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

BASIC RECEIPT:I use what I call my receipt card for flowers, as I tell a friend who is an excellent cook. My receipt is in my camera on a C-1, "Custom Setting" setting.* Check your manual for How-2 set C settings.

F-STOP: Often a wildflower is backed by trash, weeds, etc that have nothing complimentary to say in the finished photo. Make them out of focus with a very open [big number] lens f stop, lowering the depth of field, the Bokeh effect.

SHUTTER SPEED & FLASH: Stop all motion blurring, your palsy, and the breeze, by using a fast shutter speed and a fill flash. By the law of squares, the background junk is not well exposed by the flash. The flash provides the light and the fast shutter, 1/250, and low ISO diminishes the sunlight's contribution further repressing the background. **

CAMERA FOCUS AREA: The camera is set for spot focus. Because spot focus requires you to do the instinctive thing of putting the subject in the middle of the image. Shoot wide and crop to the story, and good composition in post-processing. ***

* https://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1608135&seqNum=4

** "A flash will provide a burst of light that only lasts for a fraction of a second, somewhere in the realm of 1/1000 second or faster for most flashes. If your shutter speed is at 1/250 second or 1/50 second, both exposures will receive the full power of that flash."
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=photo+on+camera+flashes+how+fast

*** https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/support/ilc/autofocus/ilce7sm3/en/01.php

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

An old method would be to take a thin nylon stocking and put a hole in it. You will need to perhaps practice on the hole size.
The one flower will be in focus and the rest blurry.
Do the same with a clear filter with an extremely thin layer of petroleum jelly with a clear spot in the center.
Again adjust thickness to taste.
A smaller aperture can be used to get the one flower more in focus besides a shallow plane.
A bit of experimenting is needed to perhaps get just the look you want and it will be unique from most all ones that you see today including those digitally manipulated.