Simple plant lighting setup.

mdjchat

mdjchat

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Mathew
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Hello all,

I'm looking for advice on how best to light a single specimen plant against (or to give the impression of) a perfectly black background. I grow cacti and succulent plants and would like to build up a collection of images that I could use in advertising for my local branch of a national society.

I'm a complete novice with any kind of artificial lighting but I wondered if a 3 flash (speedlights) setup would work? 2 flashes placed front left and right and 1 flash to back light the plant (many have interesting spines or hair that would probably look good when back-lit).

Does that sound as though it would work? Also is there a lighting ratio I should aim for between the front speedlights to stop the image looking flat? Should I use any modifiers?

Ideally I want a portable setup that could be taken around to other members collections or to our show so that I can get shots if their plants also.

Thanks for your help, Mat.
 
My old mum used to love her cacti and succulents (although I never did understand the difference between them) :)
You've got the right approach.
If the plant is sort of translucent then having a light behind, and facing towards the lens, will be a massive help, if it's 'solid' then the backlight won't do a lot. If you are backlighting then you will need to control the spread of light, not only to make sure that it doesn't light bits that you don't want lit, but also to avoid light hitting the camera lens and causing lens flare. Something like this https://www.lencarta.com/flashgun-snoot-with-honeycomb-grid or you could make your own with some black drinking straws (probably better because longer straws create a more extreme effect and you can make up a few of these modifiers in different lengths)
GreenNinja67 said:
I only had 2 lights so used them front left and front right.
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And that's worked well, but it might be even better to have the lights back left and back right - i.e. slightly behind the subject and pointing slightly forward. This is called rimlighting and gives a more dramatic effect, it also prevents any light reaching the background, so guarantees that the background will remain black.
This will leave a darker central area, which most of the time will be fine but if you're not happy with it then just add a reflector, something like a A5 or A4 piece of white card. cut a lens-sized hole in it and stick the lens through it.
 
Thanks Garry, never thought of trying it that way.

I'll have to wait a while to repeat that shot, all the flowers have died now :D
 
Thanks for your replies, I like the buddleia shot Terence. That's what I'm aiming for.

The reason for suggesting back lighting is that some plants have quite a bit of wool on them and others have brightly coloured spines which almost glow when they are wet. I take your point about being careful with the direction though Gary. That's something that I hadn't thought of.

As far as the 2 front speedlights are concerned is there a ratio to aim for? Should I make one side one stop less powerful or more?

Finally do you have any recommendations for speedlights? I can either go for used Nikon from eBay or I can get something cheap like the Yongnuo or Neewer that I've heard mentioned on here. I have no idea which model though. TTL would be useful, I have a Nikon D90 for now but will likely upgrade to a D7100/ 7200 at some point (I most often use film cameras).
 
I don't understand ratios, I view them as the photographic equivalent of painting by numbers - a formulae that destroys creativity:) The 'correct' ratio is always the one that produces the result that you like, and I suggest, as a starting point, that you have them equal.

Neewer isn't a make, it's a re-brand, which means that everything they sell can also be bought elsewhere, with the advantage that if you buy it elsewhere you'll know who actually made it.
A lot of people on here will tell you to buy Godox, but the various Godox flashes have sophisticated features that you'll never use for this purpose, so my advice is to buy cheap or second hand if this is all that you're ever going to use them for.
mdjchat said:
TTL would be useful
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No it won't, not for this.
 
Garry Edwards said:
No it won't, not for this.
Click to expand...

Sorry I should have clarified. TTL would be useful for flash outside of this set up. I figured if I have the equipment then the chances are that I will try to get some use out of it for other day to day photography as well. I've seen people using speedlights for outdoor portraits (and making do with them indoors for basic stuff) so thought I might try that at some point.
 
mdjchat said:
Sorry I should have clarified. TTL would be useful for flash outside of this set up. I figured if I have the equipment then the chances are that I will try to get some use out of it for other day to day photography as well. I've seen people using speedlights for outdoor portraits (and making do with them indoors for basic stuff) so thought I might try that at some point.
Click to expand...


I've got a Neewer NW985 for sale in the classifieds at the moment Mathew if you're interested?
 
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