Coneflower #2

[Ed Vatza]

From this morning in the meadows at Jacobsburg State Park (PA).

Canon Rebel XT, Sigma 150mm Macro w/ Sigma 1.4x TC; tripod-mounted w/ Novoflex focusing rail.

1/640 sec @ f/8; ISO 200; -1 EV; Natural light

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Liked the composition & the selective DOF. Its a pretty sharp take too.
Wish u'd chosen a younger flower...

[Julie Kenward]

Ed, I don't mind that you cropped the right side of the main flower off but I am wondering where the ends of the front petals are! It's almost like you cropped their little fingers off!

I like the separation you got between the back and front plant. I find the little yellow circles on the bud of the back flower to be a bit distracting but that might just be me being me.

[Fabs Forns]

Something is this compo doesn't work too much for me, I think it may be the other center is too separated from the first one, can't really put my finger on it.
Colors are superb though.

[Ed Vatza]

Kaushik, Julie, Fabs,

Thanks for the feedback/critiques. As always much appreciated. Ironically, I think my response to all three of you is pretty much the same.

Kaushik, you asked about why not a younger flower. I spent over an hour just wandering through this meadow looking for the "right" flowers from among the thousands in that field. In the end, it was this threesome that drew my attention as a pair which you see here and a single bloom which was to the right. There was something about these particular blooms that talked to me - maybe it was their "maturity"..

Julie, you asked why I cut the front petals? Well after honing in on the flowers, I set up the tripod and started moving around looking for a composition that felt right to me. I looked at everything from full flowers to crops like this one and this one looked the best to me out there in the field. Once I focused in on this particular composition, I made images with varying dofs using AVs from 5.6 to 16. Again, 8 gave me the mix of sharpness on the subject bloom, and oof blur on the back bloom with a nice pleasant background. If I opened it up more, I lost some of the focus on the petals of the front flower and if I stopped down, I got too much detail in the back flower. So f/8 it was.

By the way, the images I made of the single bloom to the right are of the full bloom. That composition just seemed to work best for the single bloom.

Fabs, I not exactly sure what you mean by the separation between the two centers. All I can say is I moved to the left. I moved to the right. And liked this perspective the best. I actually thought someone would comment about the overlap and suggest that I move to the left to separate the two blooms! :)

I realize this could sound defensive but anyone who hangs out here knows I am anything but. Just trying to explain the creative process used here! :)

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ed, I like the comp and the crop. I like to see different styles of comps like this.

[Ed Vatza]

I like to see different styles of comps like this.

As do I. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate the feedback.