Hosta Blossom

[Julie Kenward]

This was taken the other morning with the 12mm & 25mm extension tubes on. I love to photograph the hostas right before the blossoms pop - so many wonderful shades of green!

Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/2.8 macro & tubes
f3.5 @ 1/80th, ISO 400
Manual mode, Daylight WB, handheld, natural sunlight and shade mix
ACR & CS4 - blended ULC with rest of BG a bit. Painted over very white tip of leaf at low opacity.

[Dave Woeller]

Hi Julie, In my opinion, I don't think you could have gotten a better DOF for this shot. It really just puts my eye where it needs to be. The softness below the bud is fantastic.

[Allen Sparks]

Love the limited DOF here and the tones and texture you captured. My eye keeps getting pulled to the left bright spot on the leaf. Not sure if that is what you intended but if not then toning that down may help.

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks, Dave. I knew some wouldn't like how soft the front leaf is but I also think it leads the eye back. Allen, I did tone the white area down some but if I toned it anymore, it would be lost in the BG. I decided to leave the tip as is for that reason but I do understand what you're saying. Thank you both for your comments!

[Ken Childs]

Jules, I like this for all the reasons mentioned above but I agree with Allen about the bright leaf. I just tried cloning over that area at 15% with some of the green from the lower part of that leaf and it looks good to me. It's still light enough to stand out from the BG but it's not as distracting.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I love the green BG to complement the Hosta, my eye is drawn to the sharp tip of the bud. I guess generally though your eye goes to a bright spot?????

[Julie Kenward]

Ken, I'll take another look at it...thanks for letting me know. I was probably trying to use too close a shade of green.

[Dave Leroy]

Very nice Jules, very nice.

I really like the dof.

It is quite amazing what people do hh.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jules,
Hmmmm....I kind of like that the leaf tip is slightly brighter....for me it balances the bud a bit more.....although it would be nteresting to see Ken's idea for a comparison. great use of the shllow DOF!

[Vida van der Walt]

Great use of dof and a lovely comp Jules. Leaf tip does not bother me.:)