Pretty Flowers

[jcdeboever]

1.

2.

3.

4.

 

[Dagwood56]

Nice set. I love #2 and #4. One thought on #2, it might be stronger if you crop in a bit more to remove the bits of green at the edges, but that's just my opinion, its nice enough as is too.

 

[jcdeboever]

Nice set. I love #2 and #4. One thought on #2, it might be stronger if you crop in a bit more to remove the bits of green at the edges, but that's just my opinion, its nice enough as is too.

Thanks Dagwood

 

[Gary A.]

#2 is my fav. I echo Dagwood on the framing. I suggest a square crop.

 

[jcdeboever]

Nice set. I love #2 and #4. One thought on #2, it might be stronger if you crop in a bit more to remove the bits of green at the edges, but that's just my opinion, its nice enough as is too.

#2 is my fav. I echo Dagwood on the framing. I suggest a square crop.

How is this?

 

[Light Guru]

The reason people like 2 and 4 is because they have soft lighting. The shadows on 1 and 3 are unpleasing.

 

[WesternGuy]

Very nice. I agree with Dagwood56 about the crop on #2. I think he meant a square crop for it as well. Any one of these is a wall hanger.

Just a suggestion if you haven't tried it, but translucent flowers like the daisy and #2 (dahlia?) can produce interesting images when backlit. There are a variety of ways to do this: you can try repositioning yourself to do it - get the sky behind it; you can try positioning a reflector to give you the back light; if they are picked flowers then a light frame of some sort, or simply tape them upside down on a piece of translucent paper, (parchment paper works well) on an outside window.

Flowers like #2 also do well for a blurred image, if you like that sort of thing. You will need a lens with a ring mount, a tripod and maybe an ND filter to lower the exposure to allow the circular blur to happen. For best results, make sure the focus point is on the centre of the flower. Then there is always a zoom blur where you zoom the outer part of a zoom lens to give that zoom effect.

WesternGuy

 

[jcdeboever]

@Gary A. , @Dagwood56

 

[jcdeboever]

Very nice. I agree with Dagwood56 about the crop on #2. I think he meant a square crop for it as well. Any one of these is a wall hanger.

Just a suggestion if you haven't tried it, but translucent flowers like the daisy and #2 (dahlia?) can produce interesting images when backlit. There are a variety of ways to do this: you can try repositioning yourself to do it - get the sky behind it; you can try positioning a reflector to give you the back light; if they are picked flowers then a light frame of some sort, or simply tape them upside down on a piece of translucent paper, (parchment paper works well) on an outside window.

Flowers like #2 also do well for a blurred image, if you like that sort of thing. You will need a lens with a ring mount, a tripod and maybe an ND filter to lower the exposure to allow the circular blur to happen. For best results, make sure the focus point is on the centre of the flower. Then there is always a zoom blur where you zoom the outer part of a zoom lens to give that zoom effect.

WesternGuy

Thank you very much for the useful and informative feedback. Not 100% on understanding your direction but I will google it and if any questions, I will get with you. Thanks again for your thoughts and direction.

 

[WesternGuy]

I like the dahlia with the square crop much better. The elimination of the outer stuff around the original makes a this one a stronger image.

WesternGuy

 

[Dagwood56]

Very nice. I agree with Dagwood56 about the crop on #2. I think he meant a square crop for it as well. Any one of these is a wall hanger.

Just a suggestion if you haven't tried it, but translucent flowers like the daisy and #2 (dahlia?) can produce interesting images when backlit. There are a variety of ways to do this: you can try repositioning yourself to do it - get the sky behind it; you can try positioning a reflector to give you the back light; if they are picked flowers then a light frame of some sort, or simply tape them upside down on a piece of translucent paper, (parchment paper works well) on an outside window.

Flowers like #2 also do well for a blurred image, if you like that sort of thing. You will need a lens with a ring mount, a tripod and maybe an ND filter to lower the exposure to allow the circular blur to happen. For best results, make sure the focus point is on the centre of the flower. Then there is always a zoom blur where you zoom the outer part of a zoom lens to give that zoom effect.

WesternGuy

Thank you very much for the useful and informative feedback. Not 100% on understanding your direction but I will google it and if any questions, I will get with you. Thanks again for your thoughts and direction.

I may be wrong, but I think what Western Guy is referring to is ICM or intentional camera movement. I do a lot of ICM and its not that difficult a process other than getting a usable image. All you really need to do is set your camera to shutter priority, depending on light anything from 8 to 0.4 works well. Then you just move the camera gently, usually in the direction of the petals or circular, sideways, whatever suits your fancy. It is a lot of fun and can produce some beautiful translucent flower shots, but be prepared to take a lot of shots to get a good one. Also editing ICM, you'll often find less contrast and a less saturated color work best.

 

[WesternGuy]

Dagwood56, I didn't know it had its own TLA (three letter acronym), I just referred to them as blurs of one kind or another. I have seen them done using a tripod mounted zoom lens, a tripod mounted collared lens to give a circular pattern and both horizontal and vertical blurs using a tripod mounted camera and lens and a gimbal head. I suppose that there are so many variations on this, that if you, as the artist, like it, then that is really all that counts. Have you posted any of your work here as it would be nice to see it.

"JC" has his flower imagery very well developed, I was just trying to suggest other things that I have seen done by other photographers. I would also encourage JC to look at the underside of flowers and try photographing their sides and undersides. There are some beautiful images on the web showing this approach.

WesternGuy

 

[Dagwood56]

Dagwood56, I didn't know it had its own TLA (three letter acronym), I just referred to them as blurs of one kind or another. I have seen them done using a tripod mounted zoom lens, a tripod mounted collared lens to give a circular pattern and both horizontal and vertical blurs using a tripod mounted camera and lens and a gimbal head. I suppose that there are so many variations on this, that if you, as the artist, like it, then that is really all that counts. Have you posted any of your work here as it would be nice to see it.

"JC" has his flower imagery very well developed, I was just trying to suggest other things that I have seen done by other photographers. I would also encourage JC to look at the underside of flowers and try photographing their sides and undersides. There are some beautiful images on the web showing this approach.

WesternGuy

I do have images posted here, but they are few and far between. I post most of my work on another forum. I did a quick search but couldn't find any of my posts here at TPF. Feel free to check out my website if you'd like, it's listed in my signature. I could post a few shots here, but don't want to hijack jcdeboever's thread.

 

[WesternGuy]

Dagwood56, I didn't know it had its own TLA (three letter acronym), I just referred to them as blurs of one kind or another. I have seen them done using a tripod mounted zoom lens, a tripod mounted collared lens to give a circular pattern and both horizontal and vertical blurs using a tripod mounted camera and lens and a gimbal head. I suppose that there are so many variations on this, that if you, as the artist, like it, then that is really all that counts. Have you posted any of your work here as it would be nice to see it.

"JC" has his flower imagery very well developed, I was just trying to suggest other things that I have seen done by other photographers. I would also encourage JC to look at the underside of flowers and try photographing their sides and undersides. There are some beautiful images on the web showing this approach.

WesternGuy

I do have images posted here, but they are few and far between. I post most of my work on another forum. I did a quick search but couldn't find any of my posts here at TPF. Feel free to check out my website if you'd like, it's listed in my signature. I could post a few shots here, but don't want to hijack jcdeboever's thread.

Thanks Dagwood56. I will have a look at your sites.

Maybe you could start a new thread for those who use ICM? PM me.

WesternGuy

 

[jcdeboever]

Dagwood56, I didn't know it had its own TLA (three letter acronym), I just referred to them as blurs of one kind or another. I have seen them done using a tripod mounted zoom lens, a tripod mounted collared lens to give a circular pattern and both horizontal and vertical blurs using a tripod mounted camera and lens and a gimbal head. I suppose that there are so many variations on this, that if you, as the artist, like it, then that is really all that counts. Have you posted any of your work here as it would be nice to see it.

"JC" has his flower imagery very well developed, I was just trying to suggest other things that I have seen done by other photographers. I would also encourage JC to look at the underside of flowers and try photographing their sides and undersides. There are some beautiful images on the web showing this approach.

WesternGuy

I do have images posted here, but they are few and far between. I post most of my work on another forum. I did a quick search but couldn't find any of my posts here at TPF. Feel free to check out my website if you'd like, it's listed in my signature. I could post a few shots here, but don't want to hijack jcdeboever's thread.

I see what you mean now. I like your body of work. I definitely will play around with it to see if something grabs me as useful. It's already being done so I will probably not pursue it much further. I love flowers but I will not shoot them forever if I can't put a signature style on them. At the end of the day, I am really exploring in order to find my style. In a perfect world, I want to have a signature that can translate into any photo. Right now, I am very bored with myself.