My first shot at Macro

[aommaster]

Hi everyone

This is my first attempt at macro photography, I would like any tips and pointers on how to make this photo better. I took two shots and focus-stacked them in Photoshop.

Any thoughts on how this could be improved?

My own critique of it:

• The photo isn't particularly interesting and the flower bud itself doesn't look that good. Maybe after it blossoms, it might make a more interesting picture. Or perhaps it just needs a little retouching in Photoshop?
• You can see some of the artifacts of the focus stack in between the two leaves if you look really closely. Maybe a little more work on the background to make it seamless.
• (This one I'm not too sure about) Should the other stem (on the bottom right of the image) also be focus stacked? I made a conscious decision to not take a shot with that in focus because it did not seem to be the subject of the photograph. Would it make the photo more interesting if I had that stem in focus too?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time!

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, I was expecting a more "macro" type subject.
What lens are you using ?

 

[aommaster]

Hi!

This was taken using a 40mm Micro Nikkor. After looking back at the picture, I think you make a very valid point. The picture doesn't quite look like a macro shot (despite the fact that the bud in question is only about 3mm long). The fact that it's a shot of the entire bud makes it a bit misleading.

Is there any way of portraying how small this bud is in the shot?