Wildflower

[Dave Leroy]

This may not be for everyone or anyone for that matter. It is a bit different from what we normally see here.
5DIII, 100mm, ISO400, f/4, 1/400 HH. Cropped in from sides.
Taken last summer.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Dave. I like the flower itself - good sharpness, nice bright colors - but the rest of the image isn't working that well for me. The background seems busy and distracting and the light and colors in the bottom half of the frame are rather dull. You might have tried moving in tighter and concentrated more on just the flower - this would eliminate much of the background material. A lower shooting angle might also help to reduce background distractions. Another option is to use an artificial background - you can take a very OOF image of green vegetation and make a print of it - and place the print behind your subject in the field. Just some options to consider. :S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

I quite like the flower, have you used a blur filter on the parts of the image? The greens look a little bit muddy to me. The streaks of brighter stems in the background are a little distracting, a little brushing here and there would help to blend them and make them less apparent. I quite like the presence of the OOF flower stem on the left.

[Dave Leroy]

Thank you both for very good comments. I got the idea for a "flowerscape" from 500px. I sometimes see these sort of shots and thought I would try one. The bg is pretty much as it came out of camera. So out of a very select group of people the concept is 50/50 and regardless needs some work. :S3:

[Dave Johnson]

Hi Dave. I like the flower and the OOF buds very much. I can see what you were attempting and I'm sure you'd have nailed it with a softer, smoother background. Lowering the shooting angle may have helped you there. TFS.