I was visiting my parents this weekend and my Mother's orchids are in bloom. This is nothing you would find outside in the woods in our area, but it's nature and I thought would go on this board. I know these are all phalaenopsis, but the exact hybrid I have no clue. She has always had a green thumb, but it really showed when she delved into orchids.

This first one she has had for years, and the flowers are better then ever.






As always please critique.

Jeff,
love your macro shots. Tell me about your set-up.

Jim

Thanks Jim,
I used my typical setup with one exception. I added a diffuser Disk

1. Foam core board for the black background.
2. 2 flashes, one on a cable from my D70’s hot shoe, and the other slaved.
3. Both flashes have a Lumiquest Mini-Bounce card or similar.
4. Diffuser disk Fotodiox or equilivent
5. Tamron 90 on my D70

I have the foam core hinged like a book, and set it around the plant. I put the Diffuser disk on top of the foam core. I set up the tethered flash to bounce off it’s Lumiquest and down through the disk. The slaved flash was off to my left about 45° and shooting down about 30° again bounced off a home made Lumiquest inspired bouncer. I can set it up again at home and take a shot of the deal if you’d like.

Jeff,
please send a photo of the set-up. The lighting is perfect. I may not be able to match your "eye" but at least I'd have the lighting right .

Jim

Here ya go Jim,
This is the Macro Setup on the dinning room table. My Wife just loves this:) The disc on top is a 5 in 1 reflector of diffuser. Here the combo of the disk and the Lumiquest Bounce card acts together as a soft box. This is new since Christmas, the disk that is. Before that I always just shot the two flashes in at about 45° and varying heights.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the demonstration. These shots are really great. Are you using different light ratios for these?

James

Great! Simple but very nice. Let's you vary ratios for different effects. I'll try to work out something similar with my Alien Bees.

Thanks for sharing, Jeff.

Jim

Thanks James, and you are welcome.
Ratios? You mean what are the different power levels of the flashes? I set both flashes to max and then move them in or out depending on the effect I want:) A rather crude setup, but it seems to work fairly well. The flash on the left has a GN of about 100 and the one on the right is around 130. The bounce cards drop each more then a stop and the diffuser disk will drop that another stop plus. I’ll set up the one on the right and leave it and then vary the left one depending on the moment. I can add a reflector into the mix sometimes. My high-tech expensive reflector is another piece of white foam core board.

I use a similar setup for the pets too, however I usually bounce off the ceiling instead of the disk in order to cover the larger area. I have a Lumiquest Bounce card that’s called an 80-20 where 80% of the flash goes through to bounce off the ceiling and 20% onto the subject to fill shadows.

Hey Jeff,

You are essentially making ratios. One of the things I like about the Canon E-TTL system is that it allows you to vary light power ratios 'on the fly' between the multiple flashes. i.e. I can make 'a' group brighter or darker than 'b' group by up to 8:1.

Very well done.

James