Wild African Violet

[Monte Brown]

Just starting to work with macro, this was taken during the evening in our woods, low light no flash. My wife likes flowers and likes the flower very sharp.

Canon 1D Mark III
Canon 100 F2.8 IS macro
1/40 @ f18
ISO 3200
Did not have flash with me, was out much longer than anticipated.

Comments appreciated

[Bob Miller]

HI Monte...I think you have done a nice job making the flower sharp,,,The bg does seem to compete too much with your subject..IMO..Think simple. Also, the bottom curving stem is not necessary and is just distracting. Looking forward to your next post!

[Desmond Chan]

I agree with Bob. The flower itself seems to be well handled.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with the others. The flower is nicely in focus but I'm constantly looking at the BG. Might try to lower the aperture to f8 or f10 and see what you think. At this closeness you should be able to keep the flower in focus and not get quite so much of the BG. Another option would be to select the flower, inverse the selection and then blur the BG a bit to tone it down.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Monte, good advice already given. Top and left of the flower are a bit tight in the frame. I may consider a crop centering the flower. Lovely colors and details!

[Monte Brown]

Thanks for all the comments.

Monte Brown

[Ken Childs]

Hi Monte. I think everyone already hit the high and low points. It's been mentioned here before and it's worth mentioning again, small flowers close to the ground are tough. They're usually so close to the stuff in the BG that it's hard to get the flower in focus without getting a busy BG.

[Arthur Morris]

One way to even out would be to have shaded the whole scene.... Then nobody would be noticing the BKGR :)