I did this by accident, how to I do it again?

[StillFocus]

First, let me apologize because I don't know which forum this belongs in. Didn't figure it would go well in Critique, and I didn't think I'd get an answer in SYS, so I came here.

I was taking pictures of flowers for my grandmother just to catalog what she was growing. When I was going through them later in the evening, I came across this image:



I absolutely love the way it turned out, but it was bright and sunny when I took it, and I have no idea how the background totally disappeared. I tried to replicate the results using the EXIF data (which I will provide when I get home, can't access it right now), but it didn't work out. Can anybody shed some light on what caused this?

[candidrachel]

I have no idea but just wanted to chime in and say it's beautiful!

[i speak in math]

These have a similar look in that I was able to mostly black out the background even though they were taken outside in mid-day light. How did I do it?







I used a flash to illuminate my subject. Not that I had to, but it makes it a lot easier to black out the background. It enabled me to use ISO 100, f/16 and 1/180th shutter speed. In those conditions, no ambient light makes it to the sensor. The shot without the flash would look black. With flash, it lights up my subject, but doesn't reach the background, so it remains black.

You don't have to use flash, though. Make sure your subject is brightly lit and the background is in shadow. Keep your ISO low and your shutter speed high. This should make it so only the subject shows up, since there isn't enough light on the background to make it show up in the picture.

[Vagebond]

My guess is your light meter, center weighted or spot metered on the white flower, or just the dominance of white.

Read this post about the "Zone System" by kencaleno first:

Exposure compensation in Landscape photography?

According to my understanding of this post, the flower belongs in zone VII or zone VIII and the camera tries to render it in zone V.
That means that the lighting in the whole picture is reduced by two or three stops, rendering the darker parts (almost) black and the white flower in gray to white.

I've noticed this effect in my own pictures, like a white t-shirt more or less dominant in the middle of the frame on a sunny day. Everything around the t-shirt is darkened and the t-shirt gets shades of gray to white.

[windrider86]

please edit your photos so they are under 740,txs

[PaulVI]

Hi, I'm just a newbie, but I saw a nature pic, on some forum, somehwhere (sorry, I can't recall which), that had the same effect.

The photographer used 1/200 (fastest flash sync speed), flash on, f/5.6 (or smaller? f/11?). The shooting conditions were also like yours: bright daylight.

I've never tried it myself, but I'm very interested in trying it soon.

Did you find your EXIF data? I'd also like to know.

Great picture!

[LeeR]

I remember the first time I got a shot like this. It was a revalation. What I eventually learned was that the key was to find a flower that is in good light and a background that is in shade, then expose for the flower. (This is where the Zone System would have helped you a bit; you needed to place that flower in Zone VII for a perfect exposure and you can't trust your camera's meter to get you there.) In a sense this is a lot like stage lighting; the star of the show is bathed in light while the background fades to black.
Eventually, I learned to add things back into my backgrounds to apply subtle but unmistakable influence. Here is one I did a few years ago with a cheap point and shoot. By the time I shot this I had done so many like this that I could have taken this with a pinhole camera if I needed to, with pretty much the same results. I'm not saying that to brag, but to let you know that this is definitely reproducible and the day will come when you will be able to do this blindfolded. (almost)