A few spring flowers for C&C!

[MacHoot]

#1

#2

#3

 

[WesternGuy]

Nice colours, but the centre of the flower is out of focus in 1 and 3.

WesternGuy

 

[MacHoot]

Yea I didn't notice that till I posted it on here....I wonder what happened there?

 

[WesternGuy]

This sort of thing often happens when you are trying to do close-ups and are using a wide aperture. This usually results from having a narrow depth-of-field, so I guess the question is - "what were your settings when you took the photos?" What lens did you use and what was the aperture when took the images? Give us some indication of this stuff and there may be some suggestions we can give you.

WesternGuy

 

[Joel_W]

Pictures 1 & 3 suffer from poor composition as the flower in each is just dead center, and they both suffer from being out of focus,with way too shallow of DOF. Outside of the two ants, they're the same picture. Pic #2 is actually your best composition with the flower being off set to the right.

When doing macro florals, try to use manual focus as auto focus really doesn't do to good of a job figuring out what you want as your point of focus. Pics 1 & 3 seem like you might have been just too close, and the camera couldn't focus on the center of the flowers, while the petals are more in focus, but not quite dead on. You really need to watch your DOF as it's literally inches or less, so you have to decide what you want in focus and what you don't. Use your preview button if you have one, or view the image on your LCD after you've taken it. There are also DOF charts available online.

 

[MacHoot]

Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/400 second ===> 0.0025 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 71/10 ===> ƒ/7.1
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Focal Length = 50/1 mm ===> 50 mm

 

[MacHoot]

Thanks Joel and Western Guy! It was my first attempt at flowers!
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/members/110850.html

 

[MacHoot]

Another shot at it!

 

[Joel_W]

Exposure and DOF are much better, and well controlled. What you need to work on now is your composition, as you're still centering the subject. It's much more pleasing to the human eye to have the subject off centered some what. Picture 1 I would crop some off the right side, and picture 2 I would crop some off the left side.

 

[MacHoot]

Thanks again Joel!
I'll keep shootin!

 

[Joel_W]

One of the easiest ways to really slow down and compose your image the way you want it, is to use a tripod. Hand holding just seems to make you rush as the camera becomes a conscience extention of your hands, and you start to become concerned about shaking. You need to focus on the basics of composition and how it applies to the image you're composing. Only when you're really satisfied with what you see in the entire viewfinder, should you take the picture. PP editing really shouldn't be about major crops. Rather just small adjustments that you couldn't make out in the field.

 

[MacHoot]

Okay...i'm going to read all I can on composition. I appreciate it Joel!

 

[MacHoot]

Alright....Shooting for comp.