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Christopher Miller
05-07-2010, 09:16 PM
I like these little flowers, and we happen to have a nice bunch of them in our herb garden. :) Any comments and suggestions would be most appreciated!

Olympus SP-550 UZ
f3.5 @ 1/100, ISO 100
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering, cloudy WB
Processed in PS CS2; curves adjustment, slight saturation boost, some noise reduction, a little cloning to remove a few tiny spots on the flower and an OOF petal in the BG on the LL side, a very slight crop from the bottom, and darkened the edges just a tad

Bob Miller
05-07-2010, 11:16 PM
Sorry Chris this is not working for me. The bg is too varied and there is not enough in focus for me. I might suggest you get even closer! IMHO

Ken Childs
05-08-2010, 07:24 AM
I love the colors on this but you're having the same problem I do when shooting small flowers that are still attached to the plant. Everything in the BG is close so even if you use a large aperture, the BG still looks cluttered. This would be a good time to use a small piece of foam core or if you want a natural BG, cut the flower and take the shot with the flower well away from anything.

Julie Kenward
05-08-2010, 08:43 AM
I agree with the others - this is a bit too busy for me in the BG. If the flower were more prominently in focus I think you could get away with it but the petals are all fuzzy towards the ends so it's losing it's ability to hold my attention and I'm wandering to the BG.

I love these little fellows and I agree that they are mighty difficult to photograph. I've found a shallow DOF works well but...you have to have the bud right smack dab in the focal plane. You can't angle the main flower at all - it has to be dead on front and center to get all the petals cleanly in the DOF and have the BG fall off at all.

Give it another try, Christopher and let's see what you get next!

Arthur Morris
05-08-2010, 03:37 PM
In addition to the above it looks as if the sharpest focus is on the big purple petal rather than on the petals in the front...

Christopher Miller
05-09-2010, 09:22 PM
Thanks everyone. I appreciate you giving me your honest opinions on this. I had tried some photos with picking one and holding it up so I could get a cleaner BG, but practically all of them had sharpness issues so I'll have do a reshoot when I get a chance.

Anita Bower
05-11-2010, 09:18 AM
I agree with the comments. These are such difficult flowers to photograph--one has to be in the dirt to get down to their leve. I look forward to your next try.