Warning - another flower critique request!

06/29/2004 07:22:13 PM · #1

Was in the garden tonight chasing a young Wren (feathered) and snapped this flower a few times. Whilst focus is a little soft this is only resized with a little USM. At 100% the stamens are not quite in focus but I think this may have potential for a good pic? comments, sugestions welome as always :)

btw, hosted remotely as I cant upload to dpc right now.

sfalice

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

06/29/2004 07:29:45 PM · #2

Beautiful photograph. If it was mine, I'd probably crop a tad more off the right side. And definitely try to eliminate the two black spots at the bottom of the stamen on the left flower. Your image has a lovely painterly quality to it and the background is splendid.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

06/29/2004 07:38:46 PM · #3

Thanks Alice, if I am honest I honestly don't know how I got the background quite like this, f8 1/80 300mm with IS. The 2 black marks at the bottom of the stamen are in fact some sort of bug, they were on the petals as well but I flicked the flower to move them (no glasses on so missed some). As for he cropping, I like the white blur and was actually thinking of cropping some of the left and bottom - will try both.

Canon EOS-60D

06/29/2004 07:48:27 PM · #4

Really beautiful picture! I love that background. I don't know how you got it either, but try and figure it out...that's really cool. As for the crop, I'd crop off the left as well, and maybe a tad on the top. The bottom doesn't bother me a bit, and neither does the right side. If you were making it into a print, I'd clean up the petals a bit, and maybe brighten them up (especially the left flower). I love it..think it's a great picture. :o)

photom

Nikon D200

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

06/29/2004 07:52:05 PM · #5

Originally posted by Ecce Signum:

Hmm. I would not take any from the bottom - I really like the lead-in line that the stem provides. And - if you take some from the right - take a lot or else it will end up pretty dead center. But it would not hurt to put the right flower close to (but not touching the edge.)

You may also want to repair the yellowish pollen streaks on the back of the left flower.

I agree - it's a very NICE image with a painterly quality and perfect background.

-Tom-

Brooklynsbridge

Minolta DiMAGE S414

06/29/2004 08:00:04 PM · #6

WEll here's what I did with your flower..Just an idea of what I would do.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

06/29/2004 08:04:18 PM · #7

Crystal, I do like what you have done, especially with the left flower and the stem :) the border looks good but not sure about the corners?

bledford

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

06/29/2004 08:16:48 PM · #8

Ecce, heres what I would have done...

Cropped, burned, dodged, and hue adjusted

edit: it looks pretty nice in black and white...if only the overexposed areas were just a bit less pronounced.

I like it though.

Message edited by author 2004-06-29 20:22:11.

Dr.Confuser

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

06/29/2004 08:28:47 PM · #9

Originally posted by laurielblack:

As for the crop, I'd crop off the left as well, and maybe a tad on the top. The bottom doesn't bother me a bit, and neither does the right side. If you were making it into a print, I'd clean up the petals a bit, and maybe brighten them up (especially the left flower). I love it..think it's a great picture. :o)

I agree. Not too much cropping and cleaning and brightening though, don't want to mess too much with Mother Nature! It's practically perfect as is, and we sometimes err by doing too much. Nature isn't perfect and sometimes its the cracks in the matrix that add interest and realism.

LtHousLady

Canon EOS-5D

Tamron SP AF 28-105mm f/2.8 LD Aspherical IF for Canon

06/29/2004 08:44:19 PM · #10

Originally posted by bledford:

I wouldn't have taken the bottom off. It stops too abruptly now. I think the original way was much nicer with a lead in of stem & leaves.

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

06/29/2004 09:04:34 PM · #11

Hi Andi,

Maybe I look at things a little different, but your flowers need rotation. The stamens generally point upwards towards the sun (unless these are different than any I have seen). The pollen that has fallen off looks "odd" sitting on a vertical surface.

Here is what I did with yours real quick:
PS rotated and horizontally flipped it, croppeda little tighter, added a little saturation, USM, render lighting effect, auto-contrast.

Just a 5 minute dabble.

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

06/29/2004 09:18:27 PM · #12

AHA! That's what I thought about, but then I thought I was an idiot and didn't really know...now I do! :o)

bledford

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

06/29/2004 09:36:44 PM · #13

Yeah, that last one is the best by far. Looks much more pleasing to my eye. It's now actually quite stunning. It's amazing what post-processing in the right hands can do.

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

06/29/2004 09:42:34 PM · #14

Originally posted by bledford:

Yeah, that last one is the best by far. Looks much more pleasing to my eye. It's now actually quite stunning. It's amazing what post-processing in the right hands can do.

(Left hands too) - Equal time for the left-handers out there...

Actually a lot of this was luck.
Everyone sees something different in a piece of art, and photographs are no different as far as I'm concerned. No right, no wrong, just a lot in between.

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

06/30/2004 12:42:46 PM · #15

Originally posted by BradP:

Brad, its fantastic :) do I put my name on it or yours now??? and it looks much better on the work pc, shall have to have a play with the orig tonight, not sure my pc will open up PS7 in 5 minutes let alone me complete my editing ;)

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

06/30/2004 12:47:56 PM · #16

Thanks Andi,

It your shot, not mine. I was only lucky with the way it came out. The actual shot material was good, especially the background.

HTH