Video: Woodland wildflowers with the 100-megapixel Fujifilm GFX 100S

 

 

We hope you enjoyed our article last week about photographer Adam Gibbs photographing woodland wildflowers. It was a peaceful video full of practical tips for macro wildflower photography and nice images. Good news, Gibbs is back with another woodland wildflower video.

This time, Gibbs is joined by fellow photographer Colin. The pair were originally looking for some nice cascading streams, but recent rain had adversely affected the water conditions. Rather than head home empty-handed, they turned their focus toward trillium, a lovely woodland wildflower. They're interesting subjects in part because they have three leaves and three flower petals, hence the 'tri' prefix in the name. There are many species of trillium, including 38 found in North America. Trillium belongs to the Liliaceae (lily) family. The ones Gibbs photographed have white flower petals and yellow stamen, although trillium are found in various colors.

Having intended to do landscape photography, Gibbs brought his Fujifilm GFX 100S. In his last wildflower video, Gibbs knew he'd be doing macro photography, so he brought his Nikon D850 DSLR and 70-200mm F4 telephoto zoom lens. Gibbs doesn't have the GF 120mm F4 Macro lens, or at least didn't have it with him, and other GF lenses can't focus all that closely. Rather than look for just close-up compositions like last time, the plan was to search for compositions that include flowers and additional elements, like ferns and moss.

As you can see in the video above, despite the change of plans and facing some challenges concerning lenses, Gibbs captured some beautiful nature images, including nice wildflower photos.

To help with close focusing, Gibbs used a macro extension tube on his GF 100-200mm lens. An extension tube adds space between your lens and the image sensor, allowing you to focus closer than would otherwise be possible. Gibbs also employed focus stacking and used Helicon Focus. Focus stacking allows you to combine multiple images captured with different focus distances to have more of your image be in focus. For example, if you're up close to a subject, especially with a longer lens, the depth of field will be quite shallow. By capturing multiple images with different focus points and combining them, you can essentially create a wider depth of field.

While Gibbs originally planned on capturing landscape photos, Gibbs' lovely wildflower images show the value of being flexible. To see more of Gibbs' videos, visit his YouTube channel. To see more of his photography, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.

(Via Adam Gibbs)