Phrag. Rosalie Dixler

This is a first flowering for this one.

Lovely!

I have a cross of this one with Robert Palm spiking for the first time...looking forward to seeing what it will be like.

Yay besseae hybrids!

I love this flower!

Looks like a good red.

Nice flower!

Looks like a pretty red, but can we turn down the interrogation lights a bit? :rollhappy: OK, OK, I'm just kidding, but it is a bit difficult to make out the true color of the petals in particular.

You're right! I goofed that picture.

I'll post another one tomorrow!

Can't wait for the update! It looks like a beautiful flower

It was not easy getting the colors right. They wash out in the sun and are too dark in the shade. And the filling flash did not work very well. I had to sharpen the image slightly. But overall, this is it!

Actually, putting the pot besides my computer screen and comparing the flowers, the real one is much redder and I think it would come out bright red growing in cooler weather. This is frustrating. Dot, if you see this, can you give me a tip or two on how to get the colors right? ity:

Yeah, I find red a darn hard flower color to photograph. I have this stunning Mr. Lincoln rose in bloom right now and I just can't seem to get the color on it right. Hope Dot has some tips for us.

Cool! Thanks for going through the effort of taking another shot. Looks very nice indeed.

Shiva said:

Actually, putting the pot besides my computer screen and comparing the flowers, the real one is much redder and I think it would come out bright red growing in cooler weather. This is frustrating. Dot, if you see this, can you give me a tip or two on how to get the colors right? ity:

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Thank you for asking.

The problem, and solution, is in the lighting. It looks like your light is direct, either from the sun or from a flash. Direct light (from a light source) tends to be harsh, burning out the highlight and casting shadows that look empty (without detail). The photo doesn't have the shadow problem, but the highlights are certainly washed out. Notice that all the parts of the flower that are hit most directly by the light source are washed out.

So the solution is to control the light source better. There are several ways to do this. One is to diffuse it. Photographers use diffusion screens that they place over their lights that soften the light by scattering the light rays. To see this effect, turn on a light bulb and place your hand between it and close to a nearby surface. Your hand will cast a distinct dark shadow. Now place a white tissue or paper towel over the bulb, and see what happens to the shadow from your hand. A good diffusion screen is translucent, not transparent and not opaque. If you are using light from the sun through a window, a sheer curtain does the same thing. In fact, lots of orchid growers use sheers to soften the light on their plants.

Another solution is to use indirect light. From the sun, this is like being outside on a cloudy-bright day. Think about taking a photo of a person with sun shining directly on him/her, and then moving that person to a side of a house that is in shade but with an open sky overhead (as opposed to under a porch or tree). In my sunroom, I have light coming from windows on 3 sides, but the sun, even it it's out, isn't directly on the flowers I'm photographing. The result is diffuse light.

With artificial light, you can achieve this effect by bouncing the light off a white wall or ceiling. That will scatter the light so that the light rays come to the flower from many directions, making the light softer. Photographers often use a light source called a soft box. This is a large box with white material inside so the light bounces around inside the box at the same time it leaves the box through a diffusion screen, so the light is very "soft." They also will "bounce" light into an umbrella that has black cloth as an exterior and white cloth inside. The result is also softer light than if the light was turned toward the subject.

Sometimes it also helps to bounce light back into the parts of the flower that are in shadow. You can make a reflector card by taking a sheet of aluminum foil and crush it into a tight ball. Then undo it and flatten it over a piece of stiff cardboard. It takes a little practice to "catch" the light coming from whatever source you are using, and bouncing it into the darker parts of the flower.

The only other thing I can think of right now that may help is, if you are using a digital camera, make sure to check the setting for "white balance."

Hope this helps.

Thank you Dot! Since I don't have any other photographic equipment than my digital camera, I guess I must find a way to reflect the light of the sun into the flower. I do have a roll-up screen used to project pictures on. I'm gonna try using this as a reflector. That may work.

You may consider this as an experience on how to get the right red out of a flower. My first picture had quite the right red tones but the rest of the flower was mostly washed out.



Then I tried again with better results but not yet the correct red.



So I appealed to Dot for help and got the idea to try an old slide projection screen to fill in the flower with more diffused light. And that's what I got: finally the right red.



Please feel free to comment or make more suggestion.

That is a very interesting diiffuse light result! I like it!

Looks good Michel!

Dot - thanks very much for the photography tips.

Good job, Shiva. Clever use of the screen!

Yoyo_Jo said:

Looks good Michel!

Dot - thanks very much for the photography tips.

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You are welcome -- glad to be of help!