Plum Blossom (Prunus mume)

[Dave Johnson]

One of the first flowers to bloom in early spring is the plum or 'Ume' tree. A pretty and welcome sight!


Shooting info:

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/80
Av( Aperture Value ) F5.6
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 800
Lens EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Tripod and plamp.

PP - Slight saturation boost, lowered highlights, sharpening, plus some NR in DPP.
Comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for looking :S3:



126393

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Dave, I'm happy that spring is coming (although it's still freezing here) and what better to show for it than some blossoms. I'm not sure about the original position, but I could see this working better in portrait (i.e. a 90 degree CCW rotation of the frame). Also, I think there is still a lot of detail hiding in those whites. You could try to get them out using the recovery slider in ACR, or some curve adjustments.

[Dave Johnson]

Thanks Jerry for commenting. This was actually shot in portrait but decided to rotate it 90 degrees and felt it looked much better this way. The whites... well all I can say is they don't look this bright on the RAW or jpegs after processing, and there is much more detail to be had. I'll have another look at them. Thanks again and I hope spring isn't to long in coming your way :)

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Dave. I wish I could say that spring was happening around here, but we still have about 2 feet of snow on the ground! I like the landscape comp for this one. Also, the even light, background, and sharpness on the two flowers in the front. If you can tweak this to retain the detail in the white, you will have a very cool image!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful image, I think you have some detail in the whites yet to be shown, they are not blown I am sure if you play around with curves or shadows/highlights or linear burn etc you can get more. That minor criticism aside I think it is a very pleasing image.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
Whites mentioned so worth a tweak. Was this your tree? Could you prune? I ask because if you could....eliminating a few of the buds strategically would make for a stronger comp imo. Just a thought for next time out if it is yours. I never recommend this action if it isn't!

[Dave Johnson]

Thanks for the comments folks. I'm struggling with those whites :(

Roman, this isn't my tree so can't prune it. I'll just have to try again with the cherry blossoms which should be in bloom at the weekend :)