And now I'm going to throw a rock in the forum. :-)

[cshamis]

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All,

 

Okay. Here it comes. I actually LIKE the look of shooting macro flower shots in full direct noonday sun. There I said it. Stone me. :-)

 

I keep reading that you should always try for an overcast, cloudy, diffuse day, or early morning/late evening because that light is the *only time ever* you can shoot flower shots.... ---But I'm just not seeing it...

 

So either: the whole rest of the world is wrong(unlikely), or I'm wrong(probably), or I'm misinterpreting what I've read about direct light(hopefully).

 

When I ask some of my elite-hobbyist photographer friends this question they get exceptionally irate and start saying things like, "Well, just because... it's not done!", and "It's so obvious, that if you can't see for yourself, then I can't explain it to you." ---Which makes me wonder if *they* know why... but that's another issue altogeather... ;-)

 

When I ask actual professional photographers I usually get more intelligent answers, but they are just as unsatisfying. Such as, "Well, the contrast will be too severe.", or "The light's just unforgiving at that time of day." --Well, yes, okay I guess... but tell me wwhhyy is that such a problem?

 

Do not get me wrong, I'm NOT an advocate for shots that look like the lunar landscape. ---But I'd love to hear/read a discourse on the subject. That said, does anyone have an essay prepared on the pros and cons of shooting in direct light? Specifically questions I'm asking myself is:

a) why is it always unilaterally discouraged/avoided.

shadows are nice too, so... when do they become too severe? Is it purely subjective? Is there a check? Or test? Or some kind of threshold you can ask yourself?

c) saturation is already off the chart and pegging my histogram, so why do I need a cloudy day to INCREASE my saturation?

d) diffuse light diminishes the contrast that I just have to put it *back* in post... seems circular?

e) is this mantra a hold-over from the film days?

f) blowouts are bad. But what about filters and/or underexposing a 1/2 stop? How far will that get you?

 

 

And, of course, feel free to PM me a picture of a rock if my heretical beliefs have offended.

 

-C.