Five Bells

[Ed Vatza]

Rebel XT, Sigma 150mm Macro, 430 EX Flash w/ LumiQuest Softbox, Handheld

1/20 sec at f/11; ISO 800; 1/3 EV; FEC = -2/3

[John Cooper]

This is a very appealing composition Ed. Lovely arrangement and the softbox has provided nice soft light.
With this type of composition I would prefer to see all the flowers in sharp focus. Using F16 may have been sufficient to bring the frontal flower into focus without affecting the smooth BG too much. But still very appealing!!

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks John. Appreciate the feedback. In hindsight, I could have tried to go with f/16 with the flash but I was concerned about the background and also camera shake so as it was. So I stuck with f/11. I have no qualms going to f/22 with the tripod but handheld scares me off every time. And I should add that there is a softness that this image conveys to me that I really liked.

[Gus Cobos]

I like the compositio and the color combination of the soft purple and the green background. Would also like to see the flower in better focus...:D

[Alan Melle]

I like the composition and lighting but camera and/or wind movement and the resulting overall softness does not work for me. Open aperture, soft focus images (except for total abstracts) usually require that at least something be in sharp focus. At f/11 this isn't an abstract. For me it's an OOF image. Just another opinion, and lord knows lots of folks have disagreed with me in the past. Sorry.

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks for the feedback Gus and Alan. I take your comments to heart but also in good nature (I hope you mean them that way. :D). I get mad at myself. Then I look to get even... with myself. So after work today, I came home, grabbed some dinner and then grabbed my gear and headed back to the one plant like this that I had found down along the creek. This time I went with the tripod and focusing rail and tried again. So let me know what you think of this image. I need to know if I have to go out again tomorrow! ;)

1/6 sec at f/22; ISO 800; +1/3 EV; FEC -2/3

I wish the background was a little better.

[Ed Vatza]

I'm not trying to load this with images but here is one at f/16 for comparison.

I do have a preference but I am holding that in reserve.

[Robert O'Toole]

Hey Ed,

This is my favorite flora/closeup image of yours that I have seen, congrats, what a great image. The F16 image is by far my favorite, by far!!! Great to see you take the advice and improve the image along the way! The comp is fantastic, the BG and soft light is gorgeous!!!

Now to improve the image even more I would remove the dark UR corner and maybe the blob in the lower left.

Good work-way to go!!

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

Okay I couldnt resist Ed.
NR, a quick mask or 2, and curves to darken a couple of the hot spots.
What do you think?

Robert

[Ed Vatza]

First of all, thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. Positive feedback is almost as much fun as that other kind (areas for improvement!:eek: ;))

The edit looks great. I keep working on the camera skills but I've got to get better at PP in Lightroom and particularly PhotoShop. Thanks for the touch up. I love it.

[Alan Melle]

Much better! I strongly prefer the f/16 image, primarily due to the better BG as the subject still has good DOF.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree. The first one was too blurry for my taste but the reshoot looks much better!

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks folks. I appreciate the comments and feedback. The f/16 version was my choice as well because of the background. I kinda tipped my hand when I said I wasn't totally happy with the background of the f/22. I actually said I preferred the f/16 then pull the statement a couple of minutes later because I wanted to hear what others had to say first.

What can I say? I seem to be one of those trial-and-error learners! :) So keep the feedback, positive or negative, coming. Thanks.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Ed,
Sorry I'm a little late to the party. Boy did I miss out. By now you know the f16 is the keeper! Robert's clean up is the final peice of a very nice comp and presentation. I'm just chiming in to add that I have noticed how hard you are working and I have also noticed the improvement in a very short amount of time. Your posts are a very good example of working the image........sometimes it's just f stops! Very elegant!

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks Roman. I appreciate the feedback and the occasional pat on the back! :D I just keep on trying to learn from my mistakes. At some point I figure I will run out of mistakes!