Back Yard Flower

[Terry Johnson]

136359
Hello, this is an image taken in our back yard with a Nikon D40, 18-200mm lens, ISO-200, F16, 1/250, A-priority.

Thanks...Terry Johnson:S3:

[Randy Stout]

Terry:

The flower is well lit, nice colors, reds not blown(easy to do). The modest shadows help with a sense of depth.

Not personally a fan of the red 'frame' esp. being in from the edges, personal taste really.

Cheers

Randy

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful lighting on the bloom, a great sense of depth, the leaves are in good condition too. Lovely colours and exposure.
Sorry I don't like the frame at all.

[Diane Miller]

At first glance it is very striking, and a nice job on the reds -- they can be difficult. I see an overall warm cast, though. I'd try fixing the WB in RAW conversion and then tweaking just the reds-yellows-oranges -- easy to do in ACR/LR in the HSL tab, or go into PS for it if you're using a RAW converter that doesn't give you the capability.

I'd also watch the black end of the histogram -- there is some blocking up there that might be something to look at. Easily avoided in RAW conversion, while still keeping good mid-tone contrast.

[Mitch Haimov]

Good control of the yellows and reds and nicely lit (although would recommend moving whatever was casting that shadow on the lower right petals). I tend not to get too excited about literal, centered close-up images of flowers, but that's just my taste (or lack thereof!). To me, that's a good place to start when working a subject, but then I think it's really worth your time look for more. That said, I think this image would work better if you crop to square. Also, I don't think the border is bringing anything to this party--this may at least in part be because there is so much black in the image that the outer (black) portion of the border feels like part of the image and, therefore, the reddish part feels like it is intruding on the image. The border would be more effective IMHO with the colored portion much narrower and perhaps with another black area inside the colored one and intermediate in width between the outer black and the colored (you could build this as a stroke over a wide black area). I hope you find these suggestions helpful!

[Terry Johnson]

Hello, I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to critique the image. The consensus says the border goes. With respect to the other suggestions, I will rework the image and possibly re-post.

Thanks again...Terry Johnson

[Mitch Haimov]

Terry,

I'm glad you find the suggestions here helpful. But, for what it's worth, I urge you not to follow them because they are the consensus--this is not a democracy, it is your art. Only follow a suggestion if, after considering it, you agree that it will improve the image in your eyes, or it will make your workflow easier, more efficient, etc. Also, IMHO, if you do reprocess it is worth reposting both for purposes of additional feedback and because it is educational for other viewers (particularly if you explain what you did differently). Have fun and make images that you love!

Mitch

[Terry Johnson]

Mitch, I appreciate you taking the time to write such a thoughtful response. I am my own person and can manage myself in the different forums. I do appreciate the feed back that I receive when I post an image. There are a lot of talented folks in this group who have discovered their own image processing flows and I find I am picking up valuable technique by reading their responses. Depending on the subject matter of the original post I may or may not have the time to re-post.

Thanks again for the response...Terry Johnson

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Terry and welcome to the Macro forum! You already have a number of good comments and suggestions above. The flower is beautiful, sharp, well lit (except for the shadow on the lower petals - already noted above), and you did a nice job with the reds and yellows. Here's another vote against the orange border as it tends to draw my eye away from your subject - an easy fix. Overall, this is very nicely done and I look forward to seeing more of your work here in Macro!