Paper White on Black
We used the same black velvet background as I’d used with the sunflower. We used a pin to stick this Paper White, also called a narcissus, upright into a piece of foam core beneath the velvet.
Then I lit the flower from beneath using an angled LED lamp, to make the core of the flower glow brightly. I used someone from Apple’s business card, picked up at MacWorld, to shade the LED light so that the petals weren’t too blown out.
Finally, I angled the tripod in place (the whole setup was nestled on an old, stuffed armchair), and photographed straight down on the tiny Paper White with a macro telephoto plus extension tube.
Moral of the story: always pick up business cards, you never know when they’ll come in handy. Also, as I make a point of stating in Light and Exposure for Digital Photographers (now available for pre-order!), you don’t need fancy real estate or equipment to make a studio of your own, just the ability to see light and to improvise.
[Nikon D300, 200mm f/4 macro lens (300mm in 35mm equivalent terms), 36mm extension tube, 5 seconds at f/36 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]
