Silky flowers

[Overread]

Well I tried working more with flower photography and this time around I got better results without the dew machine (water sprayer) than with =- getting that really silky look:

all taken with canon 400D and sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG macro

at f16, ISO 100, 1/60sec
link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3492/3235285774_bc3a84c099_o.jpg

at f16, ISO 200, 1/200
link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3363/3234436223_45197da47c_o.jpg

I don't actually remember moving much between shot at all and all. I boosted ISO because of a little wind picking up in the earlier shot. Infact the difference in shots is mostly linked to ISO (and thus also the selected slower shutter speed) as the dew drop shot was taken in brighter sunlight than the lower ISO shot which was taken with the sun dimmed behind a cloud.

at f16, ISO100, 1/50sec
link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/3234438557_1a7b26f7c9_o.jpg

at f16, ISO200, 1/15sec
link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3529/3234436589_72691df7ff_o.jpg

I don't think this one has worked as well as my other attempts at this angle of shot - I think one needs either more plant leading into the shot or a little more active background to it

And finally a normal "silky" shot of the flower that I tried to get in stacking earlier:

at f16, ISO200, 1/80sec
link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3234437107_54aeb08111_o.jpg

Any advice, comments or crits welcome!

 

[tirediron]

Blocked by work filter..

 

[Bifurcator]

Number 4 is pretty great!

Good share! Thanks!

 

[poppy67]

The open Roses are really lovely although personally I think I would crop away some of the open space to put more emphasis on the flower..The composition of the rose buds are not really working for me they seem lost in all that open space..only my opinion of course..nice work!

 

[DanV1317]

i'm a beginner here, so hopefuly i can learn something new from this question. Why did you use such a small aperture?

I would have done like a F4 or 5.6 and a faster shutter speed with an ISO 100.

here is one i took the other day after it rained.
rebel xt
50mm 1.8
ISO200
F 5.0
1/80

 

[Overread]

Thanks for the comments
The rose buds in this set are bothering me a little as well - they are lacking to me a little - the second having not enough in the foreground whilst the other having too much in the background.

Hi Dan - As for the aperture it depends what you are after from the shot, in the above I was after getting a wide depth of field so that I had as much of the flower in focus as I could - the swingback is that that also brings up details in the background more. For your shot the smaller depth of field has worked well as the subject focus of the shot is sharp and clear.

Also I tend to stay above f8 with macro work as it helps ensure that the depth of field is big enough to get enough details in - with a wider aperture the depth reduces and so focusing and getting enough shot in focus gets trickyer