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Anita Bower
12-11-2008, 08:18 PM
This is my first post to this forum.

100mm macro lens, f4, 1/125, ISO 100, tripod.

Anita

Julie Kenward
12-11-2008, 08:48 PM
Welcome to macro, Anita! You've got the beginnings of some good data in your original post but a bit more could help us out:

What mode was the camera in (manual, aperture priority, etc.) and what kind of camera did you use? What was the white balance set at? What kind of lighting and/or time of day was this taken?

The reason I ask is that you have a rather reddish tone to the BG and I can't quite figure out how you got it. Looking at the seed part of the "fuzz" I'd say your color balance is just a bit off...that this should be more neutral brown than red but without knowing what time of day it was taken and what your white balance was set at it's a little difficult to tell you more.

I do like the overall composition. You got in nice and tight on the seeds while still including a bit of the plant and BG (background.) It might make it even stronger if you cropped just a bit off the bottom as there is a pretty good size area of negative space.

I even like your choice of aperture because it gives both sharp areas and soft areas to the fuzz.

Mike Moats
12-11-2008, 10:32 PM
Hey Anita, welcome and good to see you posting here. I like the comp and DOF, and agree it seems a bit on the red side. You could try backing off the red in Photoshop. Good exposure on the whites. Keep em coming.

Kaushik Balakumar
12-12-2008, 07:38 AM
:) Julie & Mike just mentioned about the 'red' which was in my mind too.
Lovely subject to photograph...
Welcome to the macro forum :)

Anita Bower
12-12-2008, 08:38 AM
Thank you, Julie, Mike and Kaushik! The feedback is invaluable.

Here is another version. The red in the first image was due to my manipulation in PS, though there were reddish grasses in the background.

In this second try, in which I only adjusted levels, curves, contrast, saturation, and cropped more.

Camera: Konica Minolta 5D
Manual mode
Manual focusing
Mid-afternoon on an overcast day in November in Pennsylvania
Probably automatic white balance, but unsure

Anita

Mike Moats
12-12-2008, 10:53 AM
Hey Anita, I like the new improved version better, well done.