**** HOW I PHOTOGRAPH ***
*** MY EPIPHYTIC CACTI ***
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PHOTO SHOOTING TECHNIQUES
•1) photographs of "medium sized" blooms
Here I would like to talk about photographs of blooms or stems whose size exceeds 10cm. It is the simplest case, which can be treated with a normal lens.
The diaphragm is closed approximately to F/16 with a normal objective. It's possible to close the diaphragm more with a macro lens. The natural light is sufficient during the sunny days. During the cloudy days, it's useful to add the light of a flash preferably off-camera, i.e. not fixed to the camera and illuminating from the side. But an ordinary flash can be sufficient if the photographer chooses the right spot from where the picture is taken so that the image has the most possible relief.
The use of the photographic tripod is very often useless in this case.
It's convenient to operate with the mode “priority to the diaphragm Aperture” (often called A mode): The diaphragm aperture is set first and the calculator of the camera chooses the convenient exposure time.
Epiphyllum x 'King Midas'
diaphragm aperture: F/29
exposure time: 1/60s
illumination: natural light (sunny weather) + off-camera flash illuminating in a direction different from that of solar light.
comment: The simultaneous use of the two sources of light not coming from the same direction makes it possible to obtain an effect of shades and light on the petals.
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