What about this one?

Reyna · Jun 23, 2009

I don't have photoshop yet so there has been zero editing, not even a crop. I think I am finally doing better! What do you think?

Big Mike · Jun 23, 2009

Looks pretty good. The colors really pop.

I would like to see a little more DOF though. As it is, only the red dealies are really in focus. I'd like to be able to see some of the detail on the petals too.

Reyna · Jun 23, 2009

Big Mike said:
Looks pretty good. The colors really pop.

I would like to see a little more DOF though. As it is, only the red dealies are really in focus. I'd like to be able to see some of the detail on the petals too.

I thought that too! Do I just lower the ap to accomplish that? Sorry for the silly question!

musicaleCA · Jun 23, 2009

f-stops are backwards. To get more DoF, the aperture needs to be smaller, which means the f-stop goes up.

wmc1117 · Jun 23, 2009

I'll take this moment to recommend to you Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson...It is a great book and he explains all the basics of exposure, such as your question, beautifully. (When I say beautifully, he includes really awesome pictures to illustrate what it is he is explaining.) But as was said a little more DOF would of helped. Beautiful flower though.

MBasile · Jun 23, 2009

I agree with Mike that I'd like to see some detail in the petals. Also, having in focus objects at only the top of the shot looks a little off. Maybe try taking the shot up a little higher looking down at the flower? That way you can fill more of the frame with the petals (hopefully with them in focus). Having so much frame filled with out of focus background objects looks like a lot of wasted space.

Reyna · Jun 23, 2009

This is such a good forum. I am going to learn a lot here! Thank you all.... I totally agree, I have lots of wasted space here.

Big Mike · Jun 24, 2009

Reyna said:
This is such a good forum. I am going to learn a lot here! Thank you all.... I totally agree, I have lots of wasted space here.

I think that this composition would work better if the whole flower (stem & leaves included) was more in focus. Then the 'subject' would fill most of the frame and not be wasted space.

An absolute beginner (or anyone really) might have put the flower right in the centre and had a bunch of dead space above the flower.