Learning from my previous trials, I tried some different ways of lighting another sample of the Christmas Cactus flower:
This is an edited image of the first example. This is not back-lit image, but the first setup shot. The flower is lit by a manual flashgun to the upper left firing through a diffuser panel. There is a mirror-like reflector under the flower providing some fill lighting underneath. This has given, what I think, is a very nice lighting for this flower, although the tip of the flower is a little dark. The setup can be seen below:
The flashgun on the stand at the back was not active. A series of test shots showed that having a mirror underneath improved the lighting.
In this next image, the flower has a back light behind an above it. Here the small flashgun on a stand was brought forward to provide additional illumination. For this shot, the mirror was removed.
This image is unedited. The lighting is still pleasant, but subtlety different. There is no mirror underneath as can be seen in the setup below:
Below is a similar shot – the difference being re-introducing the mirror below the flower. The difference is very subtle in this case:
Below is the setup:
This is my final, and I think the best shot of the session:
Although focusing on the stamens at the front of the flower, I have tried to show the pinkish glow (how you see it depends on the setup of your monitor) showing inside the flower. To enhance this I had to set the second flashgun to illuminate the body of the flower without lighting the petals at the front. The setup is shown below:
Here, there is a black card shielding the front of the flower with a small flashgun illuminating to the rear.
A larger version of the flower can be seen in my gallery.