Flowers for C&C, please :)

[Compaq]

f/4.5
ISO-100
1/250th
Flash used



IMG_0888_edited-1 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr


f/2.5
ISO-100
1/250th
No flash


IMG_0879_edited-1 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr


Composition'n stuff? Taken in our garden today. Edited in PSE9. How's the lighting?

Compaq

 

[Compaq]

I'd really appreciate feedback, if you have time

 

[invncblsonic143]

#1 seems a little over exposed in some areas and under exposed in others i feel the shadows take away a little for the beauty of the flower and 2 is perfect in my eyes...nice shots!

P.s. im new to all this so take my comments with a grain of salt

 

[Compaq]

Thank you for commenting

I wanted to have light and darker areas in the photo to give it a sense of depth. In addition, I wanted to show the wonderful detail in the petals. Since the flash comes straight on, many shadows are doomed, but some I tried to make good use of the dodge and burn tool.

As for the second one, I think it's a very clean shot. I was unsure whether to turn the clarity down or up, but I ended on up. I'm concerned it's a little over exposed, it loses some detail (the lines and such).

Also, how does the centred subject composition work in #2? I filled the frame with a crop, and I thinks it works.

 

[Tkot]

You're right, the second one is a tad over exposed, esp in the top left of the petals. It's not too bad, but it's there. Your DOF is great, however, and the centered composition looks fine!

 

[Compaq]

Any tips on how to improve this in elements? Perhaps have one layer where I expose correctly for the blown parts and blend it with another layer correctly exposed for the rest? Is that hard?

Or is there a simpler way?

 

[OrionsByte]

#1 doesn't work for me - way too much contrast for a flower shot in my opinion. I'm glad you used the flash to try and bring some light to the shaded parts of the flower, but I think a reflector or a modified off-camera flash would have worked better, because the light from the flash is really harsh in this photo. So not only do you have the harsh sunlight coming in from behind, you also have harsh flash coming in from the front, and the result is a really high-contrast image with hard-edged shadows. If you'd used a softbox or umbrella to soften the flash, and dialed up the flash compensation by a stop or so, I think it would have helped.

#2 is much much better. Looks like it was probably taken on an overcast day, and overcast days are like having a huge softbox hanging in the sky. Look at how nice and soft those shadows are compared to the first one. I personally don't think the overexposed parts of this hurt your image, because the majority of the flower is fairly well exposed and there's a good tonal range to it, in my opinion.

 

[Compaq]

Thank you for detailed criticism, OB. I see what you mean in #1. Harsh light from everywhere Understanding light is hard, I think. I only have the in-camera flash, but I could perhaps have someone hold an A4 paper a few cm from the flash itself, that would perhaps soften it a bit? The ideal thing would perhaps to have a light source that didn't leave any shadows, and the harsh back lighting from the sun? I was actually lying on my stomach for this shot.

I also like the #2's soft and light pinkish colour. I have another, uncropped version of it. I'll post that as well. Ohh, and I gave it another go on the too contrasty one. How's this?


IMG_0889_edited-1 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr



IMG_0882_edited-1 by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr


I fear it's way too over exposed, that second one. Isn't really any detail in the petals

Thank your for your help!

 

[OrionsByte]

I think that second attempt at #1 is way better from a contrast standpoint, but it's still a bit underexposed on the part of the flowers you're actually trying to focus on. You're on the right track though, and yeah - a white piece of paper, or even better a large sheet of posterboard or something similar would help a lot. Try using them to reflect the light from the sun back on to the flower, rather than putting them in front of your flash though.

You're never going to have a light source with "no shadows" - that's the nature of light - but the larger the light source, the softer the shadows become. A pop-up flash is small and will always give you harsh light.

I still don't see anything wrong with that 2nd photo from an exposure standpoint... I don't think the petals are blown out, but the big difference between this one and shot #1 is that shot #2 has very little contrast where #1 has too much. Increasing the clarity would help, but I think the detail's there in the photo - did you shoot this in RAW or JPG?

 

[Compaq]

Thanks. Shot raw. If I gave you the raw files, would you be willing to give it s shot?
Is it the editing that's off, or is the composition off as well?

 

[OrionsByte]

I was asking because in #2, if you shot RAW, I think there's plenty of data there to play with and you should be able to get the detail in the petal that you want. Composition-wise it might be a little high in the frame. For #1 though I still think you need to try it again but with a reflector instead of a flash.