Valentine Rose

[dab_20]

I'd like some critique on this photo. I'm definatly out to improve so be brutally honest! I'm new to photography so I am learning the basics.

 

[cedew]

Dab, shallow dof would help this one. I think your attention should be drawn to just the rose, and not the surrounding plants. It would be nice if the flower on the lower left did not overlap the rose. The rose doesn't quite pop like it would with better lighting. A nice frame really helps in image presentation. I wrote a quickie tutorial on another forum:

"In CS2/3:

Open photo in CS2/3

Image>Canvas Size

Where it says "Canvas extension color", select the desired border color.

You will see numbers after "Width" and "Height", change them equally in small amounts, example:

Original Width: 16.133
Height: 10.8

Modified Width: 16.433
Height: 11.1

Canvas extension color: Black

Click OK


You can see by this that I simply added .3 to the width and height, I chose black, so this gave me a nice little black border. For a nice touch, I started over and did this:

Original Width: 16.133
Height: 10.8

Modified Width: 16.233
Height: 10.9

Canvas extension color: White

Click OK


This made a small white border, then I clicked Image>Canvas Size and did this:

Original Width: 16.233
Height: 10.9

Modified Width: 16.533
Height: 11.2

Canvas extension color: Black


This made a nice little white border, with a larger black border. The numbers are arbitrary, you will have to play around with the amount to add to your existing image. "


And here was an attempt to make it more appealing...

 

[The_Traveler]

I tell people new to photography NOT to take pictures of two groups:
1) people that they love because they can't be objective about the picture
2) objects, like flowers, that are inherently beautiful - because its dificult to take a meaningful image without the besuty of the object affecting one's judgement.

Now this is a pretty flower and you've captured it pretty well but it is not a particularly good photo because it is only a reproduction of what you saw without any feeling or interest that transcends the frame.

 

[outdoorlover]

Other than what the other 2 said, because they see something I don't because I am new also, you have something very distracting on the right side, looks like a box with paper comming out the top, but you should be able to crop that out..
I think it's a great looking pic though

 

[dab_20]

Thank you for the comments. The border made it look nicer... and a little lighter would've helped. The_Traveler... you are very right. I think I had no objectives to it because the flower is beautiful.... which is why I posted it here. I think I will start taking pictures of other things... not sure what yet, but I'll figure it out. Thanks again for the comments! Next time I take a picture I'll put more thought in it and keep that in mind.