First post

[Don Jacobs]

This is my first post here in Macro/Flora so I know I have lots to learn. I saw this one yesterday in a local business park and had to stop to take a few pics:) Shot using the 1DIV, 100L, ISO 200, f/8.0, 1/800. C&C greatly appreciated.

[Diane Miller]

A nice portrait for a beginning effort. As lovely as the flower color is, it feels like there is an overall warm color cast. An adjustment to white balance might fix it. Color casts can be frustrating, and the camera often makes a less-than-ideal choice when the image is dominated by one color.

Some of the most successful flower shots have them placed a little off center, with some balancing feature in the BG, but that's not always easy to find. The yellow area in the LR might have been a candidate. The patterns created by the lighter green foliage in the left half aren't contributing much. They might drop out of sight more if they could be darkened a little.

Flower macro work is a wonderful world to explore -- keep at it and keep posting!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Don and welcome to the Macro forum! This is, indeed, a very colorful flower and a very nice first post. Diane has made some interesting comments for you to consider. The sharpness within your DOF is excellent - I would just wish that there was a little more depth to get the central portion of the flower sharp. You have good detail within the shadows on the flower petals, but I think you will find that, in general, flowers look even better under more even (e.g., overcast) lighting. If it is sunny, you might use a diffusion screen to even out the light. The bright areas in the background tend to draw my eye from your subject - more even lighting would help with this or you could also try toning down those areas in post processing. These are just some thoughts to keep in mind next time out. :S3: I look forward to seeing more of your work here in Macro!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Don welcome to the macro forum. I am not reading the previous comments in order not to be biased, unfortunately this leads to repetition but if that is the case at least you know there is consistency!
Right here we go, first impression the bloom is very big in the frame, not necessarily a bad thing but do you need it quite so big?
As a result of the size you have a certain magnification and this determines your depth of field (DOF), your image is sharp for the proximal half of the bloom, the distal half is out of focus (OOF). I note you used f8 but f16 or 22 or even 32 would not have given sufficient DOF at this magnification.
This leads on the positioning of the subject.. and possibly where you get a little irritated becasue you will may it was not possible at the time!! Here are a few suggestions that may be possible in some similar circumstances:
try to isolate the subject by having a clear background - this may be achievable by altering your camera height or the subject height or gently moving and tying obstructions out of the way.
Consider not only height but angle, both lateral and vertical.
Use a tripod unless there is a very good reason not to and ideally use a cable release with mirror lock up function active.
Check your histogram and shoot to the right.
Looking at your image the background is not bad at all but it is not perfect, you have dark and light areas and ideally the background would be smooth in terms of tonality.
Hope this helps a little.

[Jerry van Dijk]

HI Don, some great advice already given. I like the warm colors of the flower. Some additional advice on the background: the lines that are created by the leafs and the dark spots (vertical and diagonal) distract from the circular lines in the flower head. I think both colors would provide a nice background for the orange of the flower, if they were more even. I've learned to look at the BG as good as I do to the subject itself, but that didn't happen automatically :S3:.