Macro flower with black background

[bigdave]

I'm really getting into macro shots lately, and I was wondering how to isolate the only the bloom of a flower and have the rest of the frame be pitch black. The technique seems fairly common, but whenever I try to do it in PhotoShop 7, the edges aren't smooth/clean. I'm no wiz at PhotoShop, so maybe someone can tell me how it's done. Does anyone know an easy way to accomplish this effect?

[bigdave]

I thought this was fairly common, does anyone know what I'm talking about? Someone must know how to do this. Please... somebody... anything....

[octathlon]

Well, you can put a black cloth behind the flower when photographing it...

As to doing it in Photoshop, I'm not a good person to ask :)

[Pekka]

bigdave wrote:
I'm really getting into macro shots lately, and I was wondering how to isolate the only the bloom of a flower and have the rest of the frame be pitch black. The technique seems fairly common, but whenever I try to do it in PhotoShop 7, the edges aren't smooth/clean. I'm no wiz at PhotoShop, so maybe someone can tell me how it's done. Does anyone know an easy way to accomplish this effect?

Basically it's a light falloff thing and not photoshop one - you should use a very high aperture with flash(es), and if the distance to the background is rather long and background is not reflective (e.g. outdoors) you'll get pitch black background.

[Conk]

I did a photo like this. It was a little work in PS7 but easy. Basically I just painted the background black. I zoomed in around the edges while I worked on them to get precision.
http://www.pbase.com/image/3423929

[henkbos]

Best way to do it (IMHO) is to work with layers in PS. Copy the picture in a new layer and modify the second layer: extract everything but the flower, fill the rest with black. Depending on the edges of the flower this won't take more than 5 minutes. Advantage of layers is that your original picture stays intact. Also, if you don't like black you can easily change it into another color by removing the fill and use another color.

Browse on the web. There are plenty of articles that descibe this technique.

[henkbos]

Put an example in the message about a new zoo gallery. Took me about minutes to do this, but the tucan was pretty easy to extract.
Visits Blair gallery to see the original and have a look at his other good pics!

[bigdave]

Wow you guys were really helpful on this topic. I guess I'll just have to take my time in photoshop to produce the effect. Next time I'll try to open the aperture more like you suggested Pekka.

[Roger_Cavanagh]

http://www.pixelpixel.org/images/linked/cdp/020915-0004L.jpg

Dave,

I took this a couple of weeks ago in my garden. I think this is an example of the effect you want. I used 1/250 with ETTL flash in the way that Pekka described. Aperture was f/8, so wide open is not always necessary.

Regards,

[slejhamer]

Hi Roger. Just wondering if you cut back on the flash exposure setting, or if this was done with multiple flashes. The light is nicely diffused, whereas my flower shots with flash sometimes look quite harsh, even with spot metering. Thanks in advance,

[Roger_Cavanagh]

slejhamer wrote:
Hi Roger. Just wondering if you cut back on the flash exposure setting, or if this was done with multiple flashes. The light is nicely diffused, whereas my flower shots with flash sometimes look quite harsh, even with spot metering. Thanks in advance,


Mitch,

I do sometimes cut down on the flash power, although not on this shot according to the EXIF data. However, I always work with manual camera settings and lots of histogram checking and go for faster shutter and/or smaller aperture settings so as not to overpower the subject as well as flash compensation. I'm sure I could do more with the 550 controls, but I'm still reading the manual. :)

It is possible, but I cannot recall, that I could have used an Omnibounce for the flash, which would have the cut the effective power as well as creating extra diffusion. I do sometimes use the Omnibounce, but I don't find it essential to get the light OK. I do constantly check the LCD image and histogram. I'd be useless with flash at a wedding. :D

Regards,