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Roadside Studio
Turn Your Car Into A Traveling Workshop For Beautiful Flower Photographs
Text And Photography By Airlee Owens
Several years ago when I was shooting 35mm, I tried and tried to get a photo of a beautiful yellow daffodil with a completely black background. I used a black mat board as a background and various other techniques, but I was only able to accomplish the black background when I'd place the flower in bright light and shoot into a shadow area behind the flower. It helped if I placed a piece of black mat board in the shadow area as well because black mat board in a shadow is truly black.
I drive a 1992 Ford Aerostar van. I'm a large man and I need lots of room. This vehicle fills that need, but it has another benefit for me as a photographer. On the passenger side of the van, there's a generous amount of legroom. When you're driving around or parked, look down and notice that sometimes, depending on your angle to the sun, there's a dark area under the dash where little light reaches. That has become my "studio" background.
When I'm shooting photos and using my van as a studio, I have to pick the flowers and take them into the van. This obviously wouldn't be recommended for all flowers, but for wildflowers in abundance, I don't believe Mother Nature minds much—though I'm careful not to do this in protected areas. My friends and neighbors who spend great deals of time in their yards cultivating their flowers have also been quite generous in letting me pick some of their flowers for my "studio."
After I've picked the flower and taken it into my van, I position my van in such a way as to have plenty of natural light coming in through the windows, while at the same time keeping the floor mat area in darkness or deep shadow. This can be tricky the first couple of times you try it, but with a little practice it gets easier to create these conditions.
A distinct advantage of taking the flower into the van rather than photographing it in its natural state (aside from achieving the black background effect) is that you can eliminate breezes, the chief foil of sharp flower photos.
Holding the flower still in your hand is difficult, though. Again, practice helps. You might also consider a product like Wimberley's Plant Clamp (a.k.a. "The Plamp"), which is made for holding delicate plants in place while you photograph. (Visit Wimberley's Website at www.tripodhead.com for more information.)
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Use your car as a roadside studio to make wonderful flower photographs. Light entering through the windows provides the illumination, while the dark area under the dash serves as an excellent background. Be sure to turn off your camera's flash.
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One problem that's inherent in my method of shooting close-ups and holding the subject in my hand is that sometimes I have to work at keeping my hand out of the photo. Occasionally, that's really difficult, depending on how the light is coming into the van and how I have to position the camera. I work around that problem later using my image-processing software to crop out or clone out my hand.
For most of these photos, I use my digital camera's macro feature, which permits me to shoot about two inches from the subject. I then hold the flower in my left hand in such a way as to use the bright natural light coming into the van to illuminate the flower, with the dark shadow area under the dash as a background.
At first, I wasn't getting very accurate meter readings with such a dark background, so I learned to use my hand as the object of the meter reading. My skin is approximately middle gray in tonality, which is ideal for getting an accurate meter reading. If you find that this reading isn't totally accurate, use your camera's exposure compensation (if available) to darken or lighten the exposure.
There's very little depth of field when using the macro mode, so take a meter reading of your hand, depress the shutter button enough to lock in the exposure and focus, then point the lens at the flower and shoot.
When you take the meter reading from your hand, be careful that it's the same distance from the lens as the flower will be when you're photographing, or the focus may be seriously off. You must use the LCD screen to do this because most digital cameras aren't reflex cameras, so you won't see exactly what you're shooting if you use the optical viewfinder.
Also, the LCD screen is too small to pick up most small out-of-focus problems. If your LCD has a zoom feature to check focus, you're in luck. Otherwise, it's imperative that you take lots of shots of the same subject. The more photos you take, the better the odds of getting exactly what you had hoped to get.
Ten Quick Tips For Flower Photos
1. Be sure your camera is set on macro mode.
2. Use a dark background, such as a black mat board, and use natural light to illuminate
your subject.
3. Take a meter reading and lock exposure before composing the image.
4. Use your camera's LCD to be sure you're
getting a sharp image and good exposure.
5. Turn off the camera's flash.
6. Maximize your depth of field by:
Selecting a higher ISO (if available);
Choosing "Landscape" mode (if available);
Shooting in aperture-priority or manual mode and using a small aperture.
7. Take several frames to be sure you get at least one good exposure.
8. Experiment with your camera's exposure
compensation to fine-tune.
9. Employ a tripod when possible. A small, tabletop model may be the best option.
10. Have extra batteries on hand—using the LCD exclusively drains batteries fast.
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I enjoy my roadside photo sessions, but you can use the following tips just about anywhere by simply creating the same kind of "studio." I've set up flower shots in my home using light coming in through a window. I've set up flowers in a doorway using the outside natural light and shooting into a dark room as a background. When I can, I use a tripod to maximize the sharpness of the photo—no matter how steady you think you are, there's still some minor movement when holding a flower in one hand and shooting with the other hand. But don't let the lack of a tripod stop you from making some nice close-up photos.
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