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flower shots with off camera flash

Started Nov 14, 2021 | Photos thread
Larawanista
Larawanista Veteran Member • Posts: 4,736
Re: flower shots with off camera flash
1

chiti106 wrote:

Thanks for your reply. Would you use the strobe as the fill light or key light if you mix it with sun light? I'm still learning and experimenting with flash photography. Tia

No easy answer to these questions. I'd start with:

  • Depending on the overall "theme" or your shoot, you may use sunlight for background lighting and your flash for both key and fill.
  • If the subject for example is a pot of flowers by the window using the morning Sun, I'd use the flash to produce shadows and maximize sunshine as my main light hitting the petals and leaves, especially if the sunlight comes from a spot that's higher than where the pot of flowers are.
  • I do this "balancing" a lot on food photography as well and in photographing flowers, of course). Let me share examples below of how I blend sunlight with artificial light sources (fixed LED on top, angled at around 45 degrees and two strobes bounced to light up grains in the bottle without producing glare).

Hope this helps.

A few samples from my online portfolio (the last one was by the porch, which is almost always perfect for mixing sunlight and artificial light):

https://500px.com/photo/311702305/Youre-Blooming-by-Josh-Cruz/

https://500px.com/photo/1031705110/Nourished-by-Rain-by-Josh-Cruz/

https://500px.com/photo/1036553261/A-New-Day-by-Josh-Cruz/

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"Photography is therapeutic."
https://www.pbase.com/joshcruzphotos

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