Johnny Jump Up #2

[Christopher Miller]

This is a followup to my previous Johnny jump up photo here (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=63232). I took your suggestions and tried picking one and setting it up in front of a cleaner BG. I also tried to get the flower as much in focus as possible. I don't think this one is quite perfect since I lost a little sharpness on the right side, but it's my closest one yet. Your comments and critiques would be most appreciated.

Olympus SP-550 UZ
f5.0 @ 1/125, ISO 100
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering, cloudy WB
Processed in PS CS2; cropped, curves adjustment, slight saturation boost, noise reduction, and cloned out some spots on the BG and a number of specks on the flower

[Ken Childs]

Hey Christopher, this definitely looks a lot better. The flower looks great but I'm not sure about the crop. Maybe a square would look good or if you have the canvas, a vertical crop with a slight tilt to the flower. Or maybe more room on the bottom. Or.....

When I have a subject like this with a clean, relatively even BG, I always have a hard time deciding how to crop. :)

[Bob Miller]

Hi Chris...I agree that this looks better than an earlier post.....the bg esp....but the composition itself is still not working for me. I agree with ken that a slight tilt to the flower to give it a more diagonal feel might work. These flowers are not easy for some reason.

[Julie Kenward]

Big improvement, Christopher. You know, as I look at it, the square shape of the flower and the short stem, I wonder if a square crop would work here? I know you were trying for the ROT's position but, in this case, I think a square almost-fill-the-frame look would really work well.

As for the right side, did you try using a high pass filter on it? That might pop that right side a bit more. You can always mask off the rest of the plant and limit it to that right side.

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks, Ken, Bob, and Jules. Here it is cropped to a square. I also used the high pass filter on the right side as Jules suggested. Let me know what you think.

Ken and Bob, I had tried tilting the flower to more of a diagonal, but I didn't like how that looked because these flowers naturally stand upright.

[Julie Kenward]

I really think that did the trick, Christopher! Do you like it in the square comp? I really do.

[Christopher Miller]

Yes, I like the square crop much better too, Jules. Thanks very much! :)

[Ken Childs]

Yes, I like the square crop much better too, Jules. Thanks very much! :)
So do I. :)

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks Ken! :)

[Anita Bower]

Somehow I missed this image. Lovely colors! Good job with the bg. The high pass filter sharpened the right petals nicely. I don't know which crop I prefer--the first one did not bother me Good persistence with these little beauties.