Crimson Clover

[Bruce Murden]

While driving from the north central coast of Oregon back to Portland with Jack Graham and BPN member & moderator Mike Moats, we spotted this field of crimson clover in bloom. Thankfully, Jack didn't slam on the brakes to park by this field (probably because of his equipment, not his fellow photogs :)). We pulled in spent some time with this field. Mike even tried some landscapes, not just the macro work (don't include plain overcast skies, Mike!).

Nikon D80, Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 at 34mm, ISO 320, 1/30 sec @ f/9.

[Dan Brown]

Hi Bruce. Nice shot! I have done a few of these flower field shots and it seems that there is always some problems with the closest flowers being cut by the frame edge, as here. It is what it is though! I see some noise in the distant BG and I would like to see more sharpness in the front, So, in the repost, I reduced noise in the BG with Noise Ninja setting sliders at 8 with no sharpening. This was not enough NR, so I repeated it. Then, I selectively sharpened the front 1/3 of the field using Nik sharpener pro - display at 30%. Seems to have helped.

Dan Brown

[Julie Kenward]

I love your DOF here, Bruce. Very nice!

[Stephen Stephen]

Bruce nice image of a species that I've never seen. I do like Dan's sharpening of the foreground flowers.

[Robert O'Toole]

Nice image Bruce! The soft light is great and of course the colors and the 3 white blooms are great.

I would like to see a sharper orig image but the repost shows halos around the tops of the lightest bloom tips. Sometimes plugins, even good plugins, don't always improve an image. I prefer the old fashioned PS tried and true mask and USM methods.

Robert

[John Cooper]

A flower capture with a difference Bruce - love the sheer mass of clover blooms giving lots of impact!!
The sharpened repost improves the image for me!

[Alfred Forns]

Those three carefully placed buds sure enhance the composition !!! Very fine image !!!

[Fabs Forns]

Very attractive image, love the repetition of the flowers :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Bruce,
Possible improvements mentioned. Dan's re-post did improve the sharpness a bit. I do think the 3 white flowers at the base make this one a standout to an overall fine composition!

[Bruce Murden]

Thanks to all. I do admit to only some quick processing in Lightroom. It's a little sneaky of me to get this feedback and know where to do more selective and local processing in PS to finish up the image.

@Dan - I agree that cutting off flowers at the edge -- especially in the foreground -- takes away from the image. I'll try to remember a little extra room next time, or finding a better line for the edge. I just got sucked in by the three white blooms and where to place them!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Bruce, the three white flowers really make this comp.