Flower under two umbrella flashes

used two small umbrellas one with 430EX and another an old SB24 with photocell peanut
lowered brightness and boosted contrast a bit:
Both using nifty fifty
Amaryllis

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Light: even though is is "wrap around" and pleasing light in the flower it is overexposed with the stem of the flower being white instead of green.
Composition: it has a busy background. I would try a wider aperture to get a shallower DOF.

good points, thanks

I find it strange that you went through all that trouble to shoot that flower.and didn't think about the background?

Flo wrote in post #9593664
I find it strange that you went through all that trouble to shoot that flower.and didn't think about the background?

I actually set up the background that way and some folks find it distracting...it was not when it was still a bud, available light:

I think you could have ended up with better separation had you feathered the lights away from the background more and let it fall off a little darker.

Based on background comments I re shot and also reduced the flash power, no pp:

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For me, the flower should be the star.the composition just feels off for me here..how about a close up of the base of the stem right under the flowers up? I like the uncluttered BG, black is just fabulous for this bloom.

yes, Gail, this amaryllis is really nice to shoot; an earlier shot another set of flowers from the same bulb: Nifty Fifty lens

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