Clivia

[Dave Mills]

Heres one I shot awhile ago. This plant had great presence and I played with different comps but this is the best I could come up with.It's a tight crop since the bottom was a bit beat up. Not quite certain about it and would like other opinions.
Nikon D300,200mm macro,F22,1/60,twin lites,0 comp,tripod mtd

[kostas nianiopoulos]

The flowers looks sharp , and the colors looks great to my taste , but i wanna ask about the twin flash as i plan to buy one some time , it was diffused ?

[Dave Mills]

Hi Kostas, I was using the flashes at their default settings. I didn't add or reduce the strength in this case. There wasn't any extra diffuser or add on.
One thing to note. I'm using a 200mm macro which enables me to stand a good distance away from the subject. I'm not on top of it as I would be with a 60 or 105mm.

[Anita Bower]

The color of these Clivias is striking, especially set against the patterned leaves. Nice sharpness throughout the image. The crop works for me. I think the flash makes the flowers look a bit flat. I would tone down the red a bit. I would darken the leaves on the left side and below the flowers. I'm wondering if less flash would have produced less harsh light.

[Ken Childs]

Dave, it's a nice subject but the reds do look a bit overdone to me.

I'm inside avoiding the heat so I thought I'd play around with the shot and see what I could come up with. I rotated it CW just a bit, cropped some from the bottom and cloned in the blank areas left by the rotation. I lengthened the bottom stem so it would reach to the edge of the frame. The reds were desaturated just a small amount and the lightness of the reds was lowered 2 points (I think). I think I would have preferred having leaves covering the entire BG or no leaves at all but if this isn't your plant, moving or adjusting the leaves wasn't an option.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Ken, I usually don't like that tight a crop but in this case I think it helps. I like the way you brought the stems down on the bottom also.
You were right about it not being my plant so I had to make due. Thanks for your efforts...their appreciated...

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
Yeah....the reds do look a bit bright so you could try a few ways to tone them down.....and Ken is close. I was actually fine with the OP crop wise.....but it may also just be the heat getting to me as I've been out most of the day!

[Julie Kenward]

Those beautiful leaves really do add a whole other dimension to the image, Dave. I like the repost but I still feel the crop is just a tiny bit too close. I really feel like it's crowded at the bottom and even an extra 1/4" would make a huge difference for me. Overall it's a beautiful image of a beautiful flower.