My morning - C&C Welcome

[CMfromIL]

Taken this morning outside my house. Ducks have taken up residence in the neighbors yard. Eyeing my koi pond no doubt:er:.

The first was taken with my 70-200 II coupled with a 1.4x. Taken at full zoom, cropped slightly. They were not pleased to see me.

Flower pics were taken mostly at 70mm. I took the 1.4x off. ISO was between 800 and 1600, shutter speeds were 1/80 or so. Handheld, no tripod.

1.

2. Water Iris just opening up on my Koi pond. I think I'll have about 50 blooms this year. They look really nice in the spring.

3. Name escapes me right now of this flower. It's a vine, and has begun to bloom as well. Fills the corner with color.

 

[otherprof]

The flower is a clematis, and I like the photo very much. For the Iris shot, I would try cropping the left of the flower, putting the flower about 1/3 from the left. I think this would also increase the lovely effect of the arcing leaf, which adds drama. For the duck photo, I think the highlights have to be toned down and the shadows opened up a little, particularly for the duck on the left. Also, the yellow shape on the top right is distracting. Perhaps tighter cropping? I don't think the background adds much in terms of context or interest.

 

[Joel_W]

I concur with Otherprof suggestions, as both flowers are dead center in their respective pictures. You left enough room in the Iris picture for that crop to increase interest. The Clematis takes up the whole frame, so there isn't much you can do with it.

 

[CMfromIL]

Thank you both for your instructive comments. I'll post the original pictures up, as I cropped them both to see what I did with them. And thanks for the name of the flower. It always escapes me!

1. Original Iris:

2. Cropped differently

3. Original Clementis Not sure there is much to do with it crop wise. I cut out the partial flower and some of the edging.

4. Duck Edited. I had left the slide/play equipment in simply to give context this was a residential area. Per the suggestion, I removed it.

 

[Joel_W]

Both original flower pictures are just so much better in terms of a pleasing composition.