Dendrobium Duo
by yakatme

Comment:
This is a great image with near perfect technicals - for me, it perhaps doesn't show off the 3 dimensions of the flower; I'm sure this was an artistic choice but I can't help but wonder how it would look shot less enface.

Color everywhere
by Pikkel

Comment:
yakatme - what he said!

I don't quite know what the background is and I really like it - I'm not sure you've made best use of it, but what a great eye you have to see the potential in this scene.

Message edited by author 2009-05-02 16:44:05.

Can you see me now?
by Pikkel

Comment:
A lovely image and very nearly a great one. Reminds me of a butterfly.

I'd like to see your PP steps; I'd probably approach it a little differently - upping the exposure with a big ramp up in the black point to isolate it a little more from the background; with a final bit of highlight recovery to bring back the yellow, then sharpen to taste.

Having said all that, you may not have access to such tools and actually your image is still lovely.

Red
by Carlo21

Comment:
I really like this - the extremely narrow DOF make for a very tricky shoot. I often try and take these hand-held and I think might slight front to back swaying means getting optimal focus is almost impossible.

I think an f number of say 8, on a tripod would turn a really good image into a great one. Having said that, without some flash assistance on a really high ISO setting you may not have had enough light to shoot at f/8.

IMG_4260-web.jpg
by rodneyg

Comment:
Great flower, great background bokeh but a bigger image and crisper subject would really make this pop. I'm going to disagree with others a little and say that I think the yellow IS a little blown - I suspect some software recovery (if you have it) might bring back a lot of detail to those areas.

Pink Perfection
by TCGuru

Comment:
Difficult shot to pull off - you have made a really good job of it; interestingly, my favourite part of the image is the lower part where the light catches the red under the flower.

DSC_3783.jpg
by diver

Comment:
Really great flower; I agree that the lighting is difficult here - I have never used fill flash, but perhaps it is called for here? I can think of some software tools - Highlight slider / recovery in Aperture or levels / curves in Photoshop might be able to bring back some of the details in the blown highlights.

Great shot though.

azelea purple.jpg
by avalanche1030

Comment:
Like yakatme, I think the composition doesn't work to your favour and the image looks a little flat. Try upping the exposure in software and then ramping up the contrast just a little, this might be enough to defeat the flat lighting. If you were to reshoot this bush, I think I'd come at in a little less enface, perhaps trying to shoot the flowers from below with the less busy sky as a backdrop.

The subject has bags of potential and I'm sure playing around a little will yield many a great photo.

Fuchsias.jpg
by jomari

Comment:
Great composition, like some of the other images I've looked at in this challenge (including mine); for me, this could be a little sharper.

Flower Side 1.jpg
by C4Pictures

Comment:
Great flower, but I think this image lacks some sharpness; also, the composition gives the sense of something chopped off top right. I've recently started looking at some of those golden rectangle / divine proportions grids which have helped me to think about how to develop better composition - perhaps it's worth taking a look? I followed a thread somewhere in a DPC forum.

A side challenge like this is the perfect opportunity to try and iterate a technique.