Fire Lilyby
indridistefansComment by PGerst: ** Hello from the Critique Club **
My comments are broken down into technical and composition sections.
Composition
First, I like the way you concentrated on complementary colors. The bright orange/yellow is complemented well with the green background. This provides a bold, excited photograph, as intended by your subject and title "Fire Lily". You also have the flower along 1/3 lines which offers a pleasing proportion. The flower extends from the upper right to the lower left leaving the stamens along the right third. However, the angle from where you are shooting directs the opening of the flower in a parallel plane to the background, this tends to flatten the image.
If the flower was angled so that the stamens was pointed more toward the viewer it would add an additional dimensional plane, as well as expose more of the center of the flower.
You did a good job of isolating the flower from the background although a little more blur would help separate the flower even more.
Technical
The main problem is that any flower shot, especially ones with macros need to be sharp, razor sharp. The lens you were using was a 70 - 200 mm lens so I'm surprised you used macro tubes. Personally, I have not seen very good macro tubes, teleconverters, etc and I have always experienced image degradation from them.
When shooting, did you shoot this free hand? The best flower shots are performed on a tripod or monopod. If it is windy, a monopod may be better since you can move with more freedom than with a tripod.
At f/11, there should be enough DOF to get a sharp image. I have quite a few questions, so feel free to answer and I can comment more. How far were you from the subject? How much of the flower took up the viewfinder? How much did you crop?
If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please feel free to send me a PM.
Photographer found comment helpful.
