A Perfect Flower for Valentine's

[itsme123]

Well....sort of . What do you guys think? Please critique my photo on compostion, lighting, color and etc. Was trying to achieve a softer look vs a sharp look. It's not cropped, but the color and saturation was adjusted a bit in PS Element. Shot w/ Sony A100 with Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG Macro @ 1/125, f/4.5, ISO 200. Thanks! :thumbup:

 

[outdoorlover]

DOF is too shallow, if you had focused on the center it may have worked better.
Color is nice

 

[newrmdmike]

i agree

 

[Iron Flatline]

I think it's perfect. I can think of a dozen things I might have done differently, but it's a flower, for goodness sake. It's great. Print it, give it to someone you love.

 

[martinkang]

I agree with outdoorlover. My eyes can't find anything to focus on.

 

[itsme123]

Back to the "drawing board" .

Iron Flatline: Thanks for the gracious comment :thumbup:.

 

[newrmdmike]

awww . . . now i feel like a prick.

 

[itsme123]

awww . . . now i feel like a prick.

Nahh....this is afterall the critique forum and not the "luvy-dovy" forum. I am here to learn so I'll take the good and the bad .

Anyone else have any other comments?

 

[AUZambo]

I agree with outdoorlover. My eyes can't find anything to focus on.

Check out the stamens (the blue-ish/purply things). I think that's what was in focus. My eyes originally wanted to focus on the middle of the flower, so it took me a while to find an appreciation for it.

I'd take a couple more pics with the center in focus and the stamens out of focus, then try decreasing aperture & increasing shutter speed to get the whole flower in focus but still throwing the background OOF.

BTW, I'm still studying alot on photographic techniques and have never had any real lessons. Could someone tell me if my suggested adjustment in aperture & shutter speed would have the effect I described?

 

[PNA]

AUZambo nailed it.......

 

[pickypics]

Nice picture ..... Just fix the focus

 

[brighteyesphotos]

I like the compostion of it but the focus has me thrown off a little. With a flower like that, I expect the center to be focused.

 

[loves_guitar]

I think the focus is fine. You said your aim was for a more softer look vs a sharp look, and I think you achieved that wonderfully.
The onlly thing that I would have changed is the location. I would have moved the flower to the left and either up or down.

 

[itsme123]

Thanks for the comments everyone, really do appreciate it. I am going to try to re-shoot the pic with a different DOF and report back in the next few days .

 

[KaraM]

I think that the three stamens that are in focus form a nice triangle that draws the eye to the center. I would have liked all of the stamens to be in focus, but that's just my preference and opinion.