please C&C two shots for this newbie

[SoonerBJJ]

A newbie trying to get better. Both shot with Canon 50D in aperture priority mode with minimal post-processing using Canon's boxed software.

Shot in the shade near dusk. Of the series this was my favorite for DOF. 50mm f/1.4 at f/4.0

Shooting into western sky with sun higher than I wanted but unfortunately couldn't wait. I had a helluva time composing. How much road, how close to sign and how to frame the upper horizontal line of the sign. This ended up being my favorite. 24-70mm f/2.8L at 50mm f/2.8


Thanks in advance!

 

[Trisha W]

I think they're both good shots.
On the first one, I think I'd crop it a little bit, so only the fence is showing in the background, the building(?) is a little distracting.

 

[jessieshungry]

I think they're both good shots.
On the first one, I think I'd crop it a little bit, so only the fence is showing in the background, the building(?) is a little distracting.

Agreed.

 

[docphotog]

I'd like to see the first one without PP, the sharpness looks a bit weird around the petals of the flower

nice shots! I like the subjects

 

[SoonerBJJ]

Thanks for the comments!

I shot #1 from a hundred different angles, with different light, etc. The white bricks are actually a knee high wall and the corner of the wall is pointing into the flower. I thought the line and form of the white brick added balance and interest to separate the shot from the millions of beautiful purple flower shots but perhaps notI took a number of solo shots of the flower but unfortunately the best focus and DOF are found in a cropped version of this shot. I don't like to crop my photos but here is a cropped #1.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

docphotog- Here is #1 converted directly from RAW to JPEG without any PP. I only sharpened slightly on the OP but overdone?

 

[fokker]

Nice photos, and nice gear as well

 

[Inst!nct]

yea, digging both shots, i actually prefer the second flower pic you posted, dude to the white bench or bricks not being a distraction, gj!

 

[SoonerBJJ]

So is the consensus that the white brick is distracting, rather than adding complexity to the image? I felt the beauty, color and focus of the flower was an obvious focal point with the fence then receding out of focus and leading the eye toward the white brick. The hard lines and meeting of the vertical and horizontal brick then point back toward the flower. We see many beautiful flowers, I was attempting to give this image a little more complexity to set it apart from all the other beautiful purple flowers. Oh well...

Thanks for the feedback and feel free to keep it coming.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

I'm also thinking the sign image might do well in B&W or duotone. The colors tend toward the drab and lack contrast.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

Anyone?