Poppies

[sm4him]

No birds in this post (except the one in my avatar)!

Saturday, I was out looking for a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron's nest someone told me about (which I found, and may post a few pics of later), and found these beautiful poppies along the bank of the creek. Exchanged the big birding lens for the macro lens and played around a bit:

1. Poppies
May3_7945editweb by sm4him, on Flickr

2. Inside a Poppy
May3_7957editweb by sm4him, on Flickr

3. Ruffled Edges
May3_7971editweb by sm4him, on Flickr

4. Poppy Greenery
May3_7976editweb by sm4him, on Flickr

As always, C&C, general comments and witty banter are greatly encouraged!

 

[limr]

Lovely colors and composition! The processing in the first one sort of gets in the way for me, though.

 

[tirediron]

Very nice series Sharon!

 

[Msteelio91]

Great colors

 

[SashaT]

Pretty sweet.

 

[sm4him]

Thanks, all!

Lovely colors and composition! The processing in the first one sort of gets in the way for me, though.

I actually didn't DO much processing on it. Here's the same shot, basically SOOC (just resized for the web).


In the "edited" shot, all I did was bump the contrast slightly, gave it a slight upward bump on the curves and then cloned out the leaf on the left edge of the photo.

 

[Raj_55555]

Great shots, I love all of them #4 being my fav. I think you found your niche Sharon

 

[limr]

Thanks, all!

Lovely colors and composition! The processing in the first one sort of gets in the way for me, though.

I actually didn't DO much processing on it. Here's the same shot, basically SOOC (just resized for the web).
View attachment 73083

In the "edited" shot, all I did was bump the contrast slightly, gave it a slight upward bump on the curves and then cloned out the leaf on the left edge of the photo.

Now see, I like that so much better! Even the leaf. I don't know if it's because that shade of blue/green complements the yellow better, or maybe the colors were too strong with everything else being so delicate, or something else I can't put my finger on. I just know that my gut reaction to the original was better than the edited one. Not that it was a horrible reaction! Just that something felt "too much" for my personal tastes, but that feeling is gone when I see the sooc shot.

 

[sm4him]

Thanks, all!

Lovely colors and composition! The processing in the first one sort of gets in the way for me, though.

I actually didn't DO much processing on it. Here's the same shot, basically SOOC (just resized for the web).
View attachment 73083

In the "edited" shot, all I did was bump the contrast slightly, gave it a slight upward bump on the curves and then cloned out the leaf on the left edge of the photo.

Now see, I like that so much better! Even the leaf. I don't know if it's because that shade of blue/green complements the yellow better, or maybe the colors were too strong with everything else being so delicate, or something else I can't put my finger on. I just know that my gut reaction to the original was better than the edited one. Not that it was a horrible reaction! Just that something felt "too much" for my personal tastes, but that feeling is gone when I see the sooc shot.

Interesting thoughts; thanks for sharing them. Now that you say that, I kind of see what you mean about the slightly harsher blue, in particular. Maybe I bumped the saturation in the edited one. Not something I normally do much of, but it was late, I was tired, and working on several things at once--never really a good plan. I *never* increase saturation more than just a very little bit, but in this case, a little bit may have been a little too much. I'm actually thinking now about selecting everything but the yellow/orange flowers and DEsaturating those blues and greens a little, just to see what I think. But I'll ponder it a bit first.

 

[pjaye]

Beautiful set Sharon.

 

[nzmacro]

Hmmmm, very interesting to see. You remind me of someone Sharon, females are fairly easy to spot with macro, they have a feeling they portray in macro shots. I've always said, its where macro meets art. I spent 40 years of just macro and my all time favourite macro shooter is female Your shots remind me of her, interesting. Wonderful shots and that feel is in there for sure, love the shallow DOF, LOVE it !!. Superb work and visually very effective. Never change.

Now pour yourself a coffee or two and visit a French macro shooter I had the pleasure to meet. Amazing feel she gets and similar to what you are up to Sharon.

The world of Sophie

photographies de sophie thouvenin - vegetal

Check out her other galleries as well. You will love it. She is now shooting professionally and your shots are way up there Sharon

All the best.

Danny.

 

[sm4him]

Great shots, I love all of them #4 being my fav. I think you found your niche Sharon

Thanks, Raj! I actually used to do quite a bit of macro stuff, particularly florals and insects. Since I discovered bird photography, the macro and abstract work have suffered somewhat. I do think I need to really get back into doing more of it. Thanks for the encouraging words!

Hmmmm, very interesting to see. You remind me of someone Sharon, females are fairly easy to spot with macro, they have a feeling they portray in macro shots. I've always said, its where macro meets art. I spent 40 years of just macro and my all time favourite macro shooter is female Your shots remind me of her, interesting. Wonderful shots and that feel is in there for sure, love the shallow DOF, LOVE it !!. Superb work and visually very effective. Never change.

Now pour yourself a coffee or two and visit a French macro shooter I had the pleasure to meet. Amazing feel she gets and similar to what you are up to Sharon.

The world of Sophie

photographies de sophie thouvenin - vegetal

Check out her other galleries as well. You will love it. She is now shooting professionally and your shots are way up there Sharon

All the best.

Danny.

Wow, thanks Danny! I consider that high praise indeed, to even be mentioned and compared favorably to one of your favorite photographers--particularly since I know and admire the quality of your own work!
I've only been able to glance at her page so far, but I'll definitely spend more time looking at her work this evening--looks like some really good stuff!

 

[baturn]

Obviously not as much fun as birds, but I'm kinda diggin' #2 and #4.

 

[nzmacro]

What it is Sharon, is that guys (including me) try for the techie stuff, high ratio, sharp as a tack, the more DOF the better, etc. That's what I've always seen from guys, I'm guilty as charged as well . Females seem to have the knack of getting macro shots that just feel and look right, it is art and I don't use that term in photography much at all. That's what's special about these shots. Personally I just love seeing shallow DOF with selective focal points showing and they have to be the interesting part of the shot, while DOF is so darn shallow it highlights what is sharp, so congrats Selective focus is bang on where it should be and yep, that feel is right there. A very good lesson to males IMO.

All the best Sharon, impressive stuff.

Danny.