European spindle tree

[Jerry van Dijk]

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, handheld, Leica 78 mm (468 mm DSLR equivalent), ISO-100, F/4.5, 1/500 sec, pattern metering, RAW.
PP: Silkypix, + 0.4 EC, slight clockwise rotation, slight cropping for composition. Extra sharpening in Corel Photopaint12.

I was out to shoot some birds when my eye was caught by the sun reflecting in the waterdrops on by this spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus). I was unable to get a clean BG on this and I'm wondering if you find this BG too busy. Let me know what you think!

- Jerry -

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Jerry,

Yes, the background seems busy but then as presented, the whole composition seems busy. I would consider cropping in much tight on the flowers in the center. That would ease some of the busy feeling all the way around. The flowers and water drop are the points of interest. Focus in on them.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jerry, totally agree with Ed on this one, way to much going on and it needs a tighter crop. You have that nice group of four I would have closed in on, and as you get in closer your DOF shinks and you blur out the BG better.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ed and Mike, thanks for your response. The crop you suggest looks much better, although I couldn't clone out the OOF pink blob without leaving a trace. I probably should have closed in like Mike suggested. I'll try to have another go at it.
- Jerry -

[Jerry van Dijk]

Guess what? I shot another frame at a slightly different angle, so without the oof blob. Somehow, the exposure seems better as well, as is the BG. Better like this?
- Jerry -

[Julie Kenward]

I agree that the last post is the best one but I also like the original. I'm trying to do the same thing as you where I capture more of the "busyness" of nature and so I like that first one. No, it's not the best crop and you aren't close up but I do like it...it has that "here's exactly what I saw" feel to it.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for the encouragement, Julie! I do find it interesting to show some surroundings with certain subjects, but I noticed a strong preference for very clean BG's by most people on the forum when I first joined. It is really a challenge to end op with a balanced composition with enough focus on the subject. One thing I'm experimenting with, is to see whether I can capture a "repetition" of the subject in an OOF part of the frame, to give it some depth.
- Jerry -