Curious Bumble

[Kurtis Diffenbaugh]

I stumbled upon birdphotographers.net while looking for some pictures of owls and it seems like there are some great photographers on here. I would like to become better so please don't hold back, I will try to do the same. Thanks! :D


http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o30/kurtisdiff/birdphotographers/3807.jpg

[Julie Kenward]

Welcome to the macro forum, Kurtis! Let's start with the positives here...you've really got some beautiful colors and lighting captured. The orange of the poppies is intense but doesn't feel oversaturated. I love the gradual lightening of the main flower - that is beautifully seen.

For the composition, I think you really need to decide on what is your main focal point here and do everything you can to strengthen it. If the point of the image is the bee, let's wait and get him when he's higher up on the flower and can be seen more. If it is the relationship between the flower and the bee, then I'd get in close to that one flower and put all the others in an out-of-focus (OOF) background or out of the image entirely. It's also nice when you are in this close to either go in closer and show only the flower or back up a little and get some of the stem included as well.

You're certainly on the right track and your details are crisp and the lighting is very nice - just need to work on thinking through your composition and cropping it so you get the most bang for the buck.

[Kurtis Diffenbaugh]

Julie, thank you for the great analysis! (Serious analysis like this is why I joined and hoped for.) I really appreciate it. Your points are good and I'm definitely going to work on implementing them. Thanks again!

[Ed Vatza]

Good analysis from Jules.

I would only add that the oranges look just a tad oversaturated on my monitor. I would consider backing off just a little. Also your title suggests the focal point is the bee. If so, not only would I like to see more as Julie suggested, I would also expect the bee to be sharper. It looks like the edge of the flower is the sharpest point in the image.

And I would be remiss if I didn't also welcome you to the best photography forum on the web.

[Kurtis Diffenbaugh]

thank you ;)