Flower Macro, C&C

[Dimension]

Okay I was just fooling around outside and decided to take some macros of some flowers and these two shots are the ones I liked the best. These might not be that very special, but please give comments and criticism. I'm using a Canon 500D with a EF-S IS 17-85 lens, no filters.

 

[mooimeisie]

Check out this site On-Line helper for testing photo for Golden Section (Rule of Thirds, Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Golden Proportion, Golden Triangles) Rule. and it will give you alot of information regarding composition which will help presenting the flowers.

 

[kundalini]

These would be considered close-ups rather than macro. Dedicated macro lenses have the capability to have the subject at a 1:1 ratio.... the subject in the viewfinder is the same size as in real life. For some superb macro shots here on TPF, search for members doenoe, TCImages.... and there are a few others that elude me now. Also, macros don't necessarily heed to the RoT.

Your shots: Sorry, but neither grab my attentions as is. The first may have benefitted by a circular polarizer filter to reduce the glare of the leaves. The second is missing a fair amount of detail in the center of the dandelion. It's a good effort for starters, but you can do better.

 

[Samanax]

Yeah these really aren't macro shots. A macro shot would fill the frame with the just a part of the flower. These are normal shots.

And it's "Comment and Critique", not criticism...although many times it does sound more like criticism than objective critique.

New camera? New to photography? These pictures are basically snapshots, the kind you take when you get a new camera and just go around the place snapping shots of things around you. Everyone does it. It helps you get used to the feel of the camera and if you've read the owner's manual you may be trying out different settings in either the Basic Modes or even the Creative Modes.

Getting to know your camera is the first step. Become familiar with all the settings and where everything is. Learn how to properly hold the camera.

Now it's time to start learning about photography and how to improve your images.

Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

Digital Photography Composition Tips

Taking Better Pictures: Composition

Photo Composition - Your Photo As A Story

Good Photo Composition Is Essential

Learn Photo Composition

How To Make A Killer Photo Using 8 Simple Composition Rules

The Golden Section In Photo Composition

How To Improve Your Photography - 5 Easy Tricks

 

[mishele]

thanks for posting those websites!!! I m enjoying looking at them!

 

[Dimension]

Yeah I knew that these pictures were nothing special as I said, really just wanted to try out the technical bit of photographing, as your saying I'm still getting used to the camera and photographing. And yeah, the first picture needing a polarizer is true, it was very bright outside and I wasn't fully content with the picture (nor am I with any of the pictures I've taken so far). The thing is that I should have gotten both an UV filter and a polarizer by now but I ordered them separately and haven't gotten them yet so this is all I can do right now, but I'm looking forward to getting them.

And yeah, about the "comments and criticism" thing, I'm swedish so I'm blaming any language faults on that ;D

Thanks for all the help and corrections, I'll be checking out all those links and I'll make sure to memorize every word in the manual

 

[Jeff Colburn]

I would suggest a shallower depth of field, as I found the background distracting, and I would try using the rule of thirds, because your subject was centered in the frame which is usually poor composition.

Take a look at my article "[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Your Television Could Be Ruining Your Photograph's Composition[/FONT]" here The Creative Cauldron - Article called Your Television Could Be Ruining Your Photograph's Composition as this article is about the rule of thirds.

Have Fun,
Jeff