John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

All were taken with a Sony α6300 with 18-135 lens. Number 3 seems out if focus and I have played with No. 4 in the PS Express app (an app of many pre-set options) which just ‘lightened’ the dark areas.

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phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

One seems fine. Two could use a smaller aperture. Three is overexposed and could use a smaller aperture and some exposure comp.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

First one - Dead-Center and the "Rather Common" 45 degrees down angle. (Best is to find another More Interesting Angle.)

Second one - About the same as the first. AND a bit "Busy". (Make use of a Largen f-Stop, and concentrate on the main interest of focus - let the background fall off focus.)

Third one - Overblowen Whites. (Use a low ISO, and put the camera on MANUAL. -- Use of a tripod is almost mandatory.)

Forth one - Obviously = Too Dark. and best to use an f-Stop of 2.8, and focus on the blossom.

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dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

I agree with phlash46 but would add that composition is a problem for me. Your photos seem to be of the large group of flowers where they could be cropped to include just a couple of flowers. You don't have a main point of interest except for a group of flowers. Focus seems acceptable in some areas but not others so I would use a smaller aperture to give you more depth of field. The last flower is of course by itself but is too small in the large picture. Crop some of the green away to highlight the flower. Nothing is totally wrong but could just be tweaked a bit in my opinion.

Dennis

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I will add to the different angle and composition. Get in closer and frame the subject better. You are too far away for a closeup, not far enough away for small landscape type shot.

#1 get lower, get closer and use a bit more depth of field
#2 pick a subject, get in much closer to these small flowers and a better angle, improve focus and depth of field
#3 lose the left side and part of the top, make it the white flowers going lower left to upper right on a diagonal and of course a lower angle and expose so the whites are not blown out. more depth of field, at least all the flowers in focus and let the background go soft
#4 Closer, with the flower a bit off center from a lower angle, the dark back ground is fine but brighten the flower in PP so you have an orange flame in shadows type effect.

I can download your images and do a quick and dirty demo of the framing but only reshooting will cure the DOF and Focus.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

I want to thank all for the analyses and suggestions. I hope to implement them. And if anything looks better I will post. Thanks again.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

That is really insightful comment and that issue doesn't get mentioned often enough. Casual shooters taking snap shots almost always pick the "middle ground" when composing an image - not too close, not too far back - and that almost always results in a boring image.

Mike

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

Agree!

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

My prime suggestion is to get closer to your target, either physically, with a longer prime, or a zoom. Make sure your subject is not mistaken as just another component in the photo.

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

1st & 2nd- Be mindful of the background too
3rd - Best composition out of the 4 images but the white is blown
4rth - Mainly under exposed

Good effort.

Keep at it, keep learning and enjoy you photography.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Better composition could improve the first two ones. The third one is overexposed badly and it seems to me as if you shot program and the camera selected a large aperture for the exposure.
The last one is badly underexposed.

ChrisKet Loc: Orange, CA

Seems to me the focus point on your #3 is the stem and leaves just under the second group of flowers.

bertloomis Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

For me, the worst problem these photos have is the composition. All the subjects are centered.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Having sent John F several illustrations of my ideas he replied it was OK to post them on the thread with explanation of what I was trying to do. I did #1, #3 and #4. #2 would require a redo in my opinion. I might have done better if I had the original RAW to work with and of course angles cannot be changed without a redo.

#1 I tightened the crop a lot and put the flowers just a bit off center to the right which I believe works well with the largest flower on the right. This is a bit tighter crop than what I sent to John F. Upon reflection I think an even tighter crop on the left would work well.

#2 I got nothing without re shooting the image. Closer, lower angle etc.

#3 I cropped a lot off the left and top so the main bunch of white flowers is a diagonal from LL to UR. I then tried darkening the background to make the flowers standout more. I wanted to make the whites in the flowers a cleaner white and lighter in contrast to the background but kept losing the highlights and details again when I did that. Re shooting with exposure for the flowers should fix that.

#4A & 4B Much closer crop with the orange flower off center and brightened the colors a bit while making the background even darker. I cloned out some light areas and highlights to make the background more even toned. (Version A) I did one (Version B) in which I cloned out even more but I think version A works better. I thought of doing one with the flower on the left but the flower is facing slightly left so I don't think that would work at all. And Version C might work with a little bit of cropping and clone out a bunch of highlights and light spots to make the background even dark tones. That would give a vision of the orange flower isolated in a sea of darkness and shadows. Version D is A & B before cloning and brushing some areas to lower exposure.

#1 could crop a bit more off the left???

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#3 cropped a lot for a diagonal composition but really needs to be re shot for the whites

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#4-A cropped a lot and cloned and brushed light areas and highlights out of background

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#4-B Even more removed, I think I overdid it here

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#4-C Crop, darken and brighten flower before brushing and cloning-those light areas and highlights detract in my opinion

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cameranut Loc: North Carolina

I played with #3 and #4 in Photo Gallery (cheap PP program) and they seem a bit better. I noticed that you used 1/80 shutter speed for #3, which seems a bit slow. #4 would look better not centered in my opinion. As others have said, get closer to your subject. The only time that is not doable is when you are photographing wild animals. These are a quick attempt at improvement. Others with fancier software will do better. I would also crop #4 because you don't really need all the leaves showing.

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