Hip Coyote

Im not a flower photog, but ran across this scene. Worth showing, fixing?

Stephan G

I would tighten the shot by cropping closer to the open bloom As it is, to me, the open bloom is competing with the rest of the image.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I agree, up a third and over from the right half so as to focus on the story the one in focus fully developed flower.

Hip Coyote

Will do. Thanks

User ID

Nope. If you applied masterful skills to the raw file, in the end you’ll only reinforce the reason why you don’t normally shoot flowers. By all appearances they don’t excite you. (They don’t excite me even more.)

OTOH if it’s an exercise in PP don’t let me rain on your parade. Knock yourselves out. But there is another subforum for that sorta thing where you’ll get real help with your PP.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

I saw your invite to the section and came over to be supportive of you in your new role here. I am a little late to the party on this image.

If it were mine, I would only keep it if I wanted to have a record that I did in fact observe that plant species on a certain day in a certain location. It looks like a Symphyotrichum species, by the way, maybe Symphyotrichum patens - Late purple aster - a North American native.

The blossom is spent by the way, past peak bloom, and spent blossoms can sometimes be interesting subjects. But in this case it is not a pretty blossom, nor is it an interesting "corpse" of a flower, either. You were a week too late, or maybe a week too early.

We have big areas of the image that are not sharp and are not pleasantly out of focus either. We have distracting "hot spots" in the background behind and above the flower head.

I did a quick and dirty edit of your photo to give you a idea of what I am seeing. I hope that is OK.

Mike

PoppieJ Loc: North Georgia

with the crop that Blenheim Orange presented you end up with a decent composition. However with the 2 big buds that are right in the flower you have a major distraction. The flower itself is sharp enough but the angle that you shot at leaves not much to see. For me not a keeper

Hip Coyote

A quick edit was great. Thanks.

This kind of critique is exactly what I am looking for. Thanks. I think your re-do looks better. That shot was a "tweener" for me...I knew it was not bad, but not so good that I didn't need help on it. Thanks.

A week too late? that should be my screen name!

And I'm glad you are on this section...we need dedicated people to critically evaluate our work so we can get better.

Hip Coyote

Hip Coyote

I think you are right on this one. As they say, only show your best work. This one gets deleted.

Thanks and glad you are in the critique section!

Hip

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

OldSchool-WI Loc: Brandon, Wisconsin 53919

I presume you posted such a distracting composition to raise negative replies. Only cropping can help what you have shown Your eye is lead off in multiple directions with only one item in focus. Many on this site scoff at the concept of composition and repeat that art is personal and anything goes. But I presume that does not apply to the photo you presented. It represents that flower as a frame in a video of 30frames/sec? Composition does mean something.----ew

Hip Coyote

Thank you for visiting the Critique Section. For ease in reading I will parse out your remarks with my responses in italics. I hope that makes sense!

I presume you posted such a distracting composition to raise negative replies. IN A sense you are right. With one exception, I only post photos on this site that I consider "tweeners" meaning I am on the fence. This one was a hope that people would honestly and politely evaluate the photo. As it turns out, a few said it was not a keeper...and I totally agree. I have gotten to the point where i know what a bad pic is..because I take a lot of them. And I know when I have a winner. I suppose I could put that up here, but don't see a purpose unless I have a question on it such as cropping or a few different versions I am toying with. Right now I am away from my drive with my photos or I might try posting some that I think are keepers and get comments...and maybe some that I should have deleted as well. Might be kind of fun.

Only cropping can help what you have shown. I THINK you are right. If I were to keep this, cropping is needed. I shoot a micro 43 system so I am somewhat limited. Given that this is not really a keeper, no matter what I do with it, I probably won't process it any further. This site is not a gear-centric site, but it does become somewhat relevant in that the m43 is pretty darned limited on cropping. As soon as I give up long range fishing and shotgun sports, I might upgrade the photo gear! Think photography is expensive? Its in third place!

Your eye is lead off in multiple directions with only one item in focus. TRUE. The photo was shot with a telephoto lens on a hike, where equipment was limited. So I did not have a macro (as I recall).

Many on this site scoff at the concept of composition and repeat that art is personal and anything goes. YOU ARE now in the critique section of UHH where we value the concept of composition quite a lot...which is the main reason for the existence of this section. The purpose of this site is to elevate our ability to give and take constructive criticism (CC) on our photos to enhance composition, post processing, etc. It is that process that I enjoy the most in photography and why I undertook the responsibility for managing this small section in UHH.

But I presume that does not apply to the photo you presented. AS I said, this was a tweener...not good but not totally horrible. It goes into the delete pile when I get home to my drive with photos. (How could I forget that essential drive whilst on vacation??? Dumb.)

It represents that flower as a frame in a video of 30frames/sec? NOPE. Micro 43 down on my knees on a hike, as I recall. As some might say while taking a hard hike, "the good thing is that I have a lightweight m43 system. The bad thing is I have a lightweight m43 system." I may double down on the system, however, to buy a Pany to start messing with video for a certain new grand baby!

Composition does mean something. INDEED you are correct. It means everything, IMO.

I encourage your honest, courteous and meaningful participation in this give and take group. CC is always welcome here. We look forward to seeing some of your shots on this site. Also. please see a PM from me.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I appreciate your opening comment but I disagree. You are now a flower photograher because you are a photograher and you made an image of a flower I am not writing this to be facetious so please bear with me for a few minutes.

I too am not a flower photographer, but in my commercial work, I have a photographer flower for florists associations for the trade journals and artistic competitions. In dot his I lean to appreciate the design elements in a floral arrangement or even in a single flower. I know very little about botany or horticulture, from a scientific point of view, I don't know all the names of the various species, but I love to photograph flowers because they are colourful diverse and pretty.

So, if you want to shoot more flowers, here's a tip or approach. You have a basic choice, you can produce a "clinical" image that wod be of interest to a botanist or a horticulturist simply show the part's structure, and physical attribute of any given plant or flower. The other more artistically oriented approach is to consider the design and composition elements of any given flower or multiple flowers and look for graphic shapes, curves, lines, and design elements by exploring various camera angles. Consider lighting to provide dimension and texture or try backlighting and thereby transilluminating the petals. You can take a pictu of a flower or make a portrait of a flower.

Over the past few years, I have had a pet project that I call "Flowe Power" (not ver original- a throwback to the 60s) which is non-commercial and just a fun personal thing. Whenever I come across an interesting flower, I shoot it, I will use my camera with a macro lens or even my cellphone. Sie the more kind of exotic ones were found on someone's front lawn, or grog wild on a parking lot or between the cracks in the sidewalk. I am fortunate to have herein Ottawa, only a 5-minute drive from my home, the Central Canada Experimental Fark Orinmnatla Garden which is part of the Department of Agriculture and the Annual Tulip Festival where the Netherlands sends over million of tulip bulbs each year to commemorate the Canadian Forces liberation of Holland during WWII.

Flowers are also fun in post-processing to apply special effects, exaggerate colours, and enhance details.

I fin that macro work is comparatively easy, especially nowadays with any DSLR or mirrorless system. I remember the old days with parallax issues, extension tubes and bellows with exposure factors, and awaiting film processings to assess results.

Anyway, I post a few flowers in another thread. Y'all tell me what you think!

Hip Coyote

There are flower photographers and photographers who take pictures of flowers. I need to work on becoming the former! Great write up. Thanks for the info and advice.

I do have some pics using high speed sync that i will post when I get a chance and see what people think.