Landscape DOF C&C

[spacefuzz]

I shot this with my wide angle lens (balanced on my camera bag). I felt like trying a shallow DOF to see if it helped make the cactus pop. Did it work in your opinion? Or is the sky pulling your eye away, and is the softness of it distracting? Love to know what you think. Thanks!

 

[fokker]

That's really a fantastic photo no matter how you look at it. I think I would have preferred it with more DOF but I still love it. Interesting, 3-dimensional subject, interesting background (even if it's out of focus) and beautiful colours in the sky. How did you light the cactus? Was it with a reflector or a strobe? Or is it just adjusted in post?

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Except for what I feel is a slight tilt, very nice shot. I think the choice of a shallow DOF works great here to do what you say you wanted to do.

The only thing I would have tried is a small reflector camera right to light up the bottom of the cactus and the gravel there. Not sure if it would improve the shot but I would have tried it just to have a choice.

 

[mjbine]

I like this aspect but more DOF would be nice.

 

[chaosrealm93]

wow, great color!!

 

[Trever1t]

Great shot but honestly I think the shallow DOF detracts a bit from it's appeal overall. The cactus is interesting but not in comparison to the surrounding elements. Did you take another shot stopped down?

 

[AgentDrex]

I like it...one thing I noticed...horizon isn't level which distracts me (but I'm slightly unlevel myself)....you're lucky to be able to visit such a beautiful area...the dof doesn't bother me....I really do like this photo...thank you for sharing it with us...

 

[KenC]

The oof background works for me, and it doesn't seem tilted because the rocks in the background are not necessarily level, but I'd like a little more light on the cactus. Areas of it are too dark to see and more light would have made it stand out better from the background.

 

[Stradawhovious]

I really enjoy the DOF of this one, but wish there was a little more fill light on the cactus.

 

[AgentDrex]

Since you allow edits, I leveled the horizon...I had to crop a tad because of it, but I hope the composition is still there:

 

[spacefuzz]

I really enjoy the DOF of this one, but wish there was a little more fill light on the cactus.

Thank you for your input (I did notice the slight tilt after I posted it, eek embarrasing).

I didnt have any fill light available besides the pop up flash, but I will go back and see if I can adjust the cactus exposure and lighten it a bit. I feel like my processing technique is struggling with providing enough contrast / blacks for proper feeling of depth.....but my photo's are ending up quite dark. Anyone have any generic tips on that? Thanks!

 

[Stradawhovious]

I didnt have any fill light available besides the pop up flash,

A $1 piece of white cardstock or foamboard would have likely been enough to bounce some light back on to the front of the cactus and make of pop. Might be worth the investment.

 

[KenC]

You probably need to mask the area that's ending up too dark to prevent your contrast/brightness tweaks from affecting it, or at least limit how much they affect it.

 

[AgentDrex]

I have a problem with my photos coming out quite under-exposed, but I shoot digital with old lenses not designed for my 1000d, so I try and try again until I get something closer to being properly exposed. Keep practicing is what I'm trying to get at...

 

[spacefuzz]

You probably need to mask the area that's ending up too dark to prevent your contrast/brightness tweaks from affecting it, or at least limit how much they affect it.

Thank you everyone for you advice. I went back and tweaked the processing, fixed some poor masking, rotated it so it was level and used auto fill to compensate. I also brightened up the cactus a bit using the photoshop brightness slider and masked over the rest of the image. I upped the contrast a tad to compensate and hope it doesn't look over sharp now (haha its a cactus....)
Also someone on flickr was nice enough to point out its a hedgehog cactus, so that is nice to know.