Blue

[Ed Vatza]

Roses are red, violets are blue...
This is an experiment, I'd like to hear from you.

I was out again tonight in search of wildflowers and among the ones I photographed was this common Blue Violet. As I worked on trying to get a sharp image and good background, I suddenly had an idea that I would like to make some more abstract images. So I decided to soften the image as much as possible by shooting wide open (f/2.8) and severely limiting the dof. Here's what I came up with. I like it but the question is will it play in Peoria?

Image made with a Rebel XT, Sigma 70mm Macro lens, Canon 430 EX flash with LumiQuest Softbox all handheld.

1/250 sec at f/2.8; ISO 800; EC = +1/3; FEC = -2

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Ed,

Well I like the "X" shape of the petals, and the colors and soft light are great but comp wise the image isn’t either tight enough or loose enough.
Cropping some of the left side to crop in tighter would balance the image more I think.

WO macro images are always fun to try. Keep on experimenting.

[Ed Vatza]

...but comp wise the image isn’t either tight enough or loose enough.
Cropping some of the left side to crop in tighter would balance the image more I think.

Thanks for the critique Robert. I don't know. Maybe I am just unbalanced. In the image above, I had cropped slightly from the left. After your comment and one or two I got elsewhere, I decided to first crop more from the left and then second to add back the green background that I cropped out in the original.

Possibly because I am a green kinda guy, I preferred to "loosen" the image, expanding rather than further cropping. Here it is.

If you force me :D, I'll post the tighter crop but there is something about it that I don't like.

[Julie Kenward]

I love the DOF and the colors and BG are great. I agree that the crop is a little off but I think it just needs a slight rotation counterclockwise so the stem is more in the LLH corner. I think that might just pop that image even more.

[Don Lacy]

I really like the color and how the sharp white stamen draws the eye, if I had the chance to shoot this I would use the same settings just changing the crop with the stamen to the left of the frame and the petals of the Iris flowing out into the right of the frame.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ed, I like the comp and DOF but would like to see more detail in the hot white center.