Flower

creisinger · Apr 20, 2010

Raizels said:
Is there any way for me to improve (other than buying a better camera, which I don't see myself doing anytime soon)?

Yes, composition! The shot appears a bit uninspired as you took it almost straight from the top of the flower.

Work with angles , the rule of thirds and play with the lighting like using reflectors or bounce cards.

Read your camera manual and check which settings you can control. This might help you to get better images.

Raizels · Apr 20, 2010

Thank you. Will do.

mrsself · Apr 20, 2010

I'm not going to comment on the camera.. it is what it is, and you're doing you're best. As for the editing.. if you're going for bold on the color, try outlining the flower itself in photoshop and bringing out only the saturation a lil in that, so as not to skew the color in the leaves. It WAS too bright in the first pic, but I get that you were trying to make the color pop a little more. In doing so, tho, you made the leaves look unrealistic and blue. And since the flower was center, and your main focus, the leaves are unimportant anyway. So you can even inverse your selection in photoshop and blur those a little to bring out the flower more. You can even do this before bringing out the saturation in your flower any to see how it looks then. Less is usually more, its the subtle things in editing that can make a huge difference. With a camera that can't give you professional pics, sometimes you have to rely more on editing. And I'm sure many will argue that you'll never get professional from editing, and thats true.. but you can make some pretty pics for yourself

Raizels · Apr 20, 2010

That really is my goal, though - pretty pictures. I'm not a professional photographer in any way. I'd just like to learn some skills for now.

ka_photography · Apr 20, 2010

To me, you are breaking the rule on the bulls eye and its not working. At a first glace at the photo all I see is the center of the flower, and it leads me know where. My eys do not wonder around the photo, it stays right at the center(not a good thing). When you look at a photo you want your eyes to wonder around the photo and take it all in, not just one part, you alway want to be "coming back for more" Like what was suggest earlier, I would try different angles. Good lucky. And have fun with it. It is ok for the flower to be off center.