Sunflower Photography
Image of the Week
Sunflower Images
Sunflower photography is a true favorite of mine. I love trying to capture the details and colors in my sunflower images. Sunflower photography can have its challenges. There are so many possible details in a sunflower photo, you have to truly think about what you want to capture and how to do it.
For me, this was an opportunistic photo because of a vase of flowers sitting on a table. This sunflower was at its peak for details and how it was open was near perfection.
Image Considerations
I felt that the details in this flower needed to be the focus of this sunflower picture. The center had so much depth I wanted to be able to capture as much of it as possible. I decided that I wanted this to be a macro image to fill this sunflower photo with as much of the center details as possible. Being able to fill the frame with the center, the petals would almost appear to be a yellow frame or vignette.
Image Lighting
I took this sunflower image indoors under a CFL light fixture. After some test frames, I decided that no white balance correction was really needed in camera. My challenge was in how close the lens was to the sunflower for the macro photo. There was no real room between the flower and lens to add light. With this, I needed to be sure that the position of the flower was such that no shadow would be cast on it from the lens from any light source.
Camera and Settings
I shot this with my Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 28-135mm IS USM with a 36mm extension ring, mounted on a ProMaster tripod. Shooting a three frame bracket allowed me to capture a full range of light and shadows in the details of the sunflower. I was fortunate that ISO 50 allowed me to use the cameras maximum 30 second exposure for the longest of the three exposures. ISO 50 also allowed for the maximum color depth without noise. I used f/10 as a good balance for the macro to add depth to the center details, while still allowing a somewhat shallow DOF for the overall image. It also allowed me to stay within a 30 second maximum exposure and not have to change to bulb mode. This session was also my first real opportunity to use the 5D Mk IVs touch LCD for focusing.
- 56mm
- f/10
- 3 frame bracket at +/- 2.0 stops
- Longest exposure 30 seconds
- +0.0 exposure bias
- ISO 50
Editing Inspiration
My editing concept was based on the initial ideas for this sunflower photo. I wanted to get as close as possible to show the details, while having the petals act as a border. I ended up with a minor crop due to my framing of the sunflower being slightly off center. To merge the three exposures, I used Nik HDR Efex. I also used HDR Efex for the initial tonal balancing. One of the key concepts in how I processed this image, was to enhance the details in the center, while keeping the petals on the softer side. I wanted the petals to show some of their details, without enhancing them too much. I did the remaining post processing in a combination of Photoshop, Nik Color Efex, and Lightroom.
