Drosera

[Jerry van Dijk]

I've been to a wonderful flesh eating plants exhibition at the botanical gardens, which provided great macro subjects. I'm experimenting a bit with use of OOF FG objects to create a soft feeling, but I'm wondering if I'm taking it to far in this image. I'm very curious to your opinions.

Jerry.

http://i33.tinypic.com/bhyp1u.jpg

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, 49 mm (300 mm eq.) with Suntec 4+ closeup lens, handheld, ISO-100, F/5.6, 1/80 sec. EC -1, RAW. PP in Silkypix and Photopaint.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jerry. Your question is a subjective one and folks will, no doubt, have differing views. I like the tall, in-focus leaf in the center of the image - good sharpness and nice highlights on the sticky drops. For me, the OOF green leaf in the lower, center of the frame draws my attention more than is ideal. A crop off the bottom would minimize that and focus our attention more on the in-focus leaf. You are onto some potentially strong images here, but I think the comp needs to be tweaked a bit. Just my opinion. :)

[Dave Leroy]

My natural inclination is also for a crop off the bottom , about half of the centre oof plant stem, to help draw attention to the subject. I also wondered if a bit more contrast to the subject, not sure but a thought. The plant is a very nice subject and has the look of caterpillars. Dave

[Harshad Barve]

lovely colors , I liked the feel of image
TFS

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with the others - there's real potential here but the focal point needs (IMO) to be more prominent in the mix of soft plants. I, too, would take some off the bottom and see what happens...

Lovely macro image, BTW. You really nailed the focus! I also thought the dew drops could use a push in the contrast department - not to lose the soft feel but to brighten/whiten them up a bit.

[Connie Mier]

The oof and colors really drew my attention to the thumbnail, I like what you are doing with this. I agree with above comments about the oof green in the foreground. But I think you are on to something!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thank you for your useful comments. Went back to the drawing board and came up with this result. Cropped from the bottom as you suggested, as far as composition wise I would like to go (keeping the focussed stem left of the center), increased contrast and also added two stops of light. This blew some of the highlights of the drops, but since they don't contain any details, I didn't mind. The post looks a bit grainy, but the original seems fine.
Thanks again, I think the image has improved considerably.

Jerry.

http://i36.tinypic.com/kdv3hz.jpg

[Vida van der Walt]

I like this repost Jerry. Lovely colours, great dof and love the dew drops.

[Gordon Craig]

I like the re-post much better however a found your experiment very interesting.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Gordon, I also like the repost better. You learn a trick or two here! Still loads of OOF left though, so I still consider the experiment partly succesful!
Kind regards,

Jerry.