It starts at the camera. First, I hunted for a situation where I have the light I like on the flower (subject). In this case low, strong, direct evening sun (sidelight). Then I make every effort to position the lens with the most darkened background I can conjure with the light on the subject the way I want. Here I had myself corkscrewed in between a boulder, a picket fence, and a wire dividing fence.
My darkened background wasn’t the best. It included the white picket fence any way I twisted the camera. Then I fiddled with my settings. Stick with me for a second. I wanted the background dark, black if I could do it. So I made an exposure for only the brightest elements in the frame – the white flower petals. But the stinking picket fence also was white. Okay, how do you disrupt the background as much as possible? Shallow depth of field, f-3.2.
What happens when you open the lens up like that? So, spin up the shutter speed – 1/2500 (ISO 100).
Snap, snap, snap, fiddle, fiddle, fiddle, swear you’ll buy a light meter, snap, snap, snap, fiddle, fiddle, fiddle, snap, snap, snap…
Now it’s in Lightroom and I’m unhappy. Ghosts of the white picket fence linger. Darken up shadows. Increase black. Bump up whites. Soften. Crop. Remove a couple of light leaks.
All the time I’m looking at that stupid fly. I hate the fly. But it’s a pollinator. It does add something to the visual. Wish honey bees would make a comeback.
You could do all of this with a flash much simpler. Next time.
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