New Daisy Shoot

Here's one from yesterday's shoot. I got a number of emails (and posts here in the blog) about how the shoot was set-up (gear, etc.) so here's the scoop:

(1) The photos (including the photo of Sarah) were taken on my front porch using nothing but natural light (I didn't have anyone available to hold a reflector, so I just went with the directional natural light). I waited until 6:30 pm at night to get softer, better light, and the front of my house faces north, so I got to use my favorite northern light.

(2) The background I used for the first shoot (Monday before dusk) was a simple white foam core board I bought at Office Dept for around $3. I put the flowers in a vase, and positioned them on top of the empty box my daughter's new car seat came in, then I taped the foam core board to the back of the box. Pretty high-tech, eh?

(3) On the second day, I remembered that at the office I just bought a new Westcott Illuminator Background, but I hadn't used it yet. I bought it after seeing Monte Zucker use it in his seminar as a quick background for on-location portraits. It's offically called "Westcott Masterpiece Collapsible 2-in-1 Illuminator Muslin Background - 5x6' - Black/White" (it sells for $176.15 at B&H photo. It's part number: WEBGIBW56), and I bought the super light-weight background stand to support it (For an additional $68.95). They're both worth every penny---it sets up in seconds, weighs next to nothing, folds up into a little circlar pouch, and is black on one side, and white on the other.

(3) On both days, I shot with a Nikon D200, using a Nikon 70mm-180mm Macro zoom. It's an amazing lens, but Nikon just discontinued it, but you can find used ones out there no problem. Again, worth every penny. By the way, I also shot the portraits of Sarah with it---its super shallow depth-of-field makes for some really dramatic portraits.

(4) To get maximum sharpness, I shot on a tripod (A Slik carbon-fiber with a "Really Right Stuff" BH-55 Ball Head). I also used two other critically important features for additional sharpness: I used Mirror Lock-up, and a cable release, to minimize any camera shake.

That's it. No reflectors, no flashes, no lights. Just natural light. A white foam core background for the first day, and a pop-up Westcott background for the second day. The most important tip is to shoot when the light is great. Not at 2:00 pm. About an hour before sunset (the light gets better a half an hour before sunset, but it'll take you a half an hour to get set-up and "in the zone" so when that magicial light happens, everything else it tested and in place.