flower field flowers for c&c

[Carla_]

These were from today, from Lompoc, Ca. How are these for comp/exposure/interest?

1.

2.

3.

4.

Thanks!

Carla

 

[Ernicus]

Either I'm really tired and not seeing clearly or they are all blurry.

DoF is kinda odd to me. as well as framing. 1st and third seems pretty murky...just kinda blah.

Thats tough flowers to shoot...for me anyway. I have been trying with Lilacs lately, a cluster of small flowers kinda flower, and I suck at it. I don't think I'd do well with those kind either. They don't seem very interesting of a flower to really want me to shoot them.

I think your DOF is just way too shallow now that I look back. Try for the "field" view, get more of them in focus and make it look like a pretty field of flowers. That might help.

blurry aside, I am tired, so ima go to bed now. lol. laters.

 

[Ernicus]

I pulled this out of picture number 3. It's kinda pretty. That blurred flower in the front left really got to my eyes, so I just pulled the bundle that is kinda in focus.

and yeah, exposure off, easily corrected with levels adjust. looked at histogram and then removed the black haze from underexposure as part of the "make it pretty" effort I challenged myself with as my last practice before bed...lol...now I'm really going.

 

[Carla_]

Ernicus,

Thanks! I need to learn more pp, that's for sure. Lighting was odd and hazy, so no chance to get a decent landscape here. The colors of the fields make the flowers worth shooting, but difficult to capture without a landscape. I will try to make it back in a month or so if life doesn't call first.

 

[Ernicus]

Yeah in shot 3 i noticed some really nice color potential that was blurred in background. Capture that next time. get proper dof and show those colors nice n sharp. ;-)

 

[Joel_W]

One of the issues here is that you tried to enclude way too much into each image, the results are DOF issues, poor compositions, and even some soft focus issues.

Pic #1, your DOF is way to great. Leaving the viewers eye to wander from the subject throughout the entire image. There is nothing other then the height of the plant to draw us back to it. You also have the horizon running dead center across the photograph. In pic #2, you lowered the horizon to the lower 1/3, forcing our eyes to the subject. The sky has some nice detail with those clouds, but is secondary to the subject. The issue I have with this picture, is that the focus seems soft as you go down the stem of the main flower, yet the background isn't out of focus enough. Picture #3 is a very nice composition, but again your DOF is so great that the flower buds lower in the frame, yet equal to the taller stalk is OOF. Also I'm not found of the fact that the stalk is pushed so tight up against the right side of the frame. You have more then enough room to have left a little breathing room. Picture #4 has correct exposure, and your DOF works well within your image. This time you centered the image dead center. Was there a reason you decided to do this? The exposure suffers from the bright & contrasty light. Nothing you could do for that, but it hurts the overall softness of the flowers. Also creates a lot of shadows within the flower itself. I would have repositioned the flower to the right to add interest, and it becomes a more pleasure image to view. If you can re-edit this one, please do so.

Taking florals mid day in bright sunlight is a very difficult thing to accomplish. Try for overcast days, and or go out early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Lately, I seem to fight these very conditions time and time again.

 

[Carla_]

Thanks Ernicus.

Joel, thanks for your input. How's this?

Carla

 

[AgentDrex]

This is why I tell people to not worry about the technical aspects first but to work on composition (RoT, Golden Triangle, Golden Spiral, Rabatment, etc.)and lighting first and foremost. Just get something in focus first, get it composed pretty, make sure (if using natural lighting) to let the sun go down a bit first (the sun is too high for these photos to look nice) then worry about DoF, focal length, shutter speed, ISO, hyper-focal distancing, etc.

Go out and shoot these (or similar) again and keep in mind the composition and lighting this time. Once you get that down (no matter the overall quality of the photo at first) then key in on the rest of the techy stuff and you'll take photos like mine (BSP) in no time.

 

[MK3Brent]

Desaturated photos of flowers never seem to work for me, personally.

Was this intentional?

 

[Joel_W]

Composition is somewhat better, but the lighting really hurts it. I'd try to get out there again on a cloudy day, or early/late day, and redo these images.