triathlete@vt.edu), September 30, 1998

Answers

-- James Fazio (triathlete@vt.edu), September 30, 1998.

My question here for all of you is how do I get a better exposure on the flower, but not wash out all of the sky. Also if you have any pointers for the composition, all are welcome. 50mm spotmetered and slightly adjusted, but I didn't record the exposure.

-- James Fazio (triathlete@vt.edu), September 30, 1998.

James, here's my 2 cents worth as a beginner:

To obtain a better exposure on the flower and maintain exposure in the sky, fill flash or reflectors are needed. You can spotmeter an area in the sky that you want to go 18%, and adjust fill flash to match the neccessary aperture for that exposure (I have used a manual flash for more control in similar situations). If you decide to use reflectors, adjust the reflectors so that you can spotmeter the flower and obtain an exposure reading the same as the sky reading.

As far as composition, perhaps try a vertical format(lending to the vertical nature of the flower) and use a wider angle tripoding closer and lower to the flower to separate out the other bud.

-- Robert McCabe (rbmccabe@earthlink.net), September 30, 1998.

To propoerly expose both the flower and the sky, it look like you need more light on the flower, or a darker sky. As a poster above mentioned, you could use a flash on the flower, but that might look too fake or harsh. I would try to shoot the sceene when the sun is shining on the flower. In this image, it looks like you were shooting into the sun, so perhaps you could have gone to the other side of the flower (with the sun behind you) and shot from there.

Another way to improve the image would be to darken the sky so that your exposure would be longer, thus properly exposing the flower. An easy way to darken the sky is with a polarizing filter.

There are other critical components of this image that you did not ask about -- composition and subject matter. With respect to both of these issues, this image leaves a bit to be desired.

-- Joel Collins (jwc3@mindspring.com), September 30, 1998.