First attempt at Flowers. C+C extreamly appreciated

[kevmet]

Well, today I decided to go out and try some nature. I packed up my T1i, tripod, kit lens (18-55), 75-300 lens and The Digital Photography Book Volume 1 by Scott Kelby. I went to Beacon Hill Park, Downtown Victoria, B.C. I had a plan to get there early before the park gets over run with people. Well it was already busy so I stuck to an area that didn't look very inviting (darker and not as many flowers).

Here they are, I have done some editing.
#1

#2

#3

#4

When I was taking this next shot a guy walked by with what looked like some nice equipment. I said "Hi", he looked at me and says "nice book" and walks away.
I really didn't know what to think.

#5

Thanks in advance for the C+C. Don't worry I have thick skin.

 

[tirediron]

Howdy Neighbour... just going to move this along to the Nature Gallery for you.

 

[tirediron]

They're nice enough flower shots, BUT... flowers on their own aren't the most exciting subject. Try and incorporate them into a scene. #5 is the strongest of the lot IMO, but suffers from the fact that theirs a lot of bright sun in the background. This might be worth going back to shoot at a better time of day.

 

[kevmet]

Thanks for moving it to the right place. I was going for the smooth waterfall look in shot #5. I took it a few times and i will take your advice and take it at another time of day, I'm thinking right before sunset or just after sunrise.

 

[Hikaribushi]

Thanks for moving it to the right place. I was going for the smooth waterfall look in shot #5. I took it a few times and i will take your advice and take it at another time of day, I'm thinking right before sunset or just after sunrise.

I think you captured the waterfall beautifully, and I think you'll get some really nice results if you return to shoot it using that wonderful natural golden light.

 

[kevmet]

I'm going to redo the shot tomorrow morning and see what happens. Thanks

 

[jesse101]

Just a general statement for them all, be nice if they were more sharp overall. the first image is the best shot between them all, but DOF could have been improved to remove any distractions from the main subject. get in closer and utilize more light. the last image looks nice, but needs to be more sharp and be careful to not blow out the BG.

 

[ceejtank]

#5 is my fave.

 

[amolitor]

I love #3. It's just a flower, it's not going to tell us anything about man's essential inhumanity or anything, but it's pretty, it's well conceived and shot.

I quibble with the blown out highlights on the blue flower overlapping with the orange one, and the out of focus highlights upper right. The former can probably be tamed in post, and the latter can just be painted over lightly or whatever. Don't kill the ones in the upper right, just make them a little less distracting.

#5 is certainly nice, but it suffers even more from blown highlights and is ultimately, to me, pretty much the same damn postcard we've seen a million times. It's on the postcards because it's very attractive, to be sure. It's not bad per se, it is in fact quite good, it's just that I am fatigued by it (by the genre, that is, the soft waterfall in the fairy-land garden scene arrrrg).

 

[kevmet]

Thanks for all of the feed back. I've tried to get back to the spot a couple of mornings now and the traffic in the morning is just crazy.

 

[Erica.]

I like the waterfall image and the colors in #3 are great.

I think that trying out different crops are great for flowers, like an off-centered image of a flower with the right depth of field is nice.
Also, sometimes the most interesting part of a flower isn't the top or front, different angles can result in great images.