photos of the week. C&C welcomed. thanks

sburatorul · May 20, 2009

tree branch 50mm f2.8 1/160s iso 200
walking in the park i noticed this spot of light coming from the setting sun through the trees so i tried to get the best composition to make use of the soft light.

pink rose 50mm f5 1/100s iso 200
in the same park i was hunting for a flower shot to try out soft focus. here is what i could come up with.

as you can see i am madly and deeply in love with my 50mm

kwik · May 20, 2009

I really like the colors in the first one. The greens are very vibrant. The flower is nice to. I like it. Good flicks.

CyclonePWR · May 20, 2009

Looks like your 50 is supper sharp.

#1 is nice. Might have been cool if the light went from the tip of the branch up wards. Or if you used the branch as a leading line to point at another subject that you could have lit up with a flash. Ones again great photo, I would print and hang it up.

#2. Maybe I just dont get it but to me its a little too soft.

I really like your work!

linpelk · May 20, 2009

These shots are really nice. I love the sunlight shining on the tree. Your focus looks great and I like your DOF. The end of that tree branch looks like two little legs going for a stroll

Pic #2 just seems too soft for my liking. I like to see flowers really crisp!! But that's just my opinion. I think your composition is nice. You've framed the flower well. The colors are lovely and I like the brick wall in the background.

Your 50mm looks like it's serving you well

sburatorul · May 21, 2009

thank you all! the flower is soft but that is the purpose of the soft focus editing... now i might have over done it. thanks for dropping by

Skedaddle · May 22, 2009

I like the flower but I would like it better if it was more sharp. The first photo is good too. I really like the colors of the flower and the greens in the first photo.

Sherman Banks · May 22, 2009

I really like the first photo's colors but the subject matter is a bit uninteresting. If you had a bird on that branch or something in addition to it, it would be a fantastic shot. It's always nice though to find those areas where the sun is perfectly illuminating something. You can replicate some of that lighting with a nice flash too, which I'd recommend as a next piece of equipment. If you're always depending on the lighting conditions to be ideal when you're shooting, you're missing out on shots you could get if you had a flash/es. Plus it adds a whole extra dynamic to your photography that I find to be very fascinating.

The second to me looks dull, mostly due to the focus and the lack of lighting on the flower. The pink seems to just blend together giving the flower little detail and definition. You can see there is no texture on most of the pedals, only the ones that are getting more light. Compositionally, it is good placement of the subject and nice use of lines. It would be nice to see it have more room in the frame, but it's not bad how it is.

Nice work, look forward to your next set!

sburatorul · May 22, 2009

thank you all for the comments. just to clarify everything out... the flower pic original is super sharp and has texture on the petals but i intentionally applied in photoshop a technique to recreate soft focus. i created a second layer identical and applied a lens blur than set the transparency to 20% to get the soft looking petals. i will post the original too

sburatorul · May 22, 2009

Sherman Banks said:
I really like the first photo's colors but the subject matter is a bit uninteresting. If you had a bird on that branch or something in addition to it, it would be a fantastic shot. It's always nice though to find those areas where the sun is perfectly illuminating something. You can replicate some of that lighting with a nice flash too, which I'd recommend as a next piece of equipment. If you're always depending on the lighting conditions to be ideal when you're shooting, you're missing out on shots you could get if you had a flash/es. Plus it adds a whole extra dynamic to your photography that I find to be very fascinating.

The second to me looks dull, mostly due to the focus and the lack of lighting on the flower. The pink seems to just blend together giving the flower little detail and definition. You can see there is no texture on most of the pedals, only the ones that are getting more light. Compositionally, it is good placement of the subject and nice use of lines. It would be nice to see it have more room in the frame, but it's not bad how it is.

Nice work, look forward to your next set!

my next piece of equip is a sb600

Sherman Banks · May 22, 2009

sburatorul said:
my next piece of equip is a sb600

You'll like it, unless you drop it like I did and break it after two weeks.

jerbol · May 22, 2009

Love the look of the 50mm. I getting one myself in the mail soon. Anyway love the way the light is hitting the tree in the first pic. The second one seems to have a weird contrast to it. May just be me.

sjluto · May 23, 2009

The first is very interesting to look at. I love the colors and the shape of the branch. The light seems a little unnatural, but it works. Great picture.

I know you were trying to go for a soft focus, but I don't know that it works for me. I feel like it's just out of focus, not that you meant it to be like that....