Bicolor Marigold on blue

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS @ 105mm
Av mode
1/4"
F22
ISO:100
LR & CS3
Tripod
BG is blue poster board
Shot indoors with natural window light and a small LED flashlight.

Where is everybody?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ken,
I like the comp.....but the BG and saturation of the image aren't working for me here. I will give you a suggestion to try.......take a picture of a beautiful sky.....even with clouds......print it on matte paper......voila!!!....natural looking BG. Works with any BG you can think of and looks better than a flat colored BG.
Busy season for me Ken.....getting worse after the 28th! Hold down the fort while I'm away!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. Nice comp and lots of bright colors - though I do like Roman's suggestion about the background. (I've been away on a family trip for a week - to take more photos, of course. ) :)

[Ken Childs]

Roman, your suggestion for a BG sounds great!

I really wasn't going for anything natural looking with this one. This is more of an attempt at a bright color pop art type shot. I knew it wouldn't appeal to everyone. :)

[Anita Bower]

I love the colors of this image. Knock you out! That is an unusual Marigold. Is it another of your own happy accidents?

I'm wondering if you might get that pop art look by eliminating some of the leaves and cropping in closer. I know you like to photograph plants as they really are, ie, without eliminating elements, but I think pop art needs to be more simple. I might also rotate the image a bit CCW to make the flower look up a bit, though this may not matter. Here is a quick try. I wish I hadn't cropped the top of the flower, but, I did it before cloning and didn't want to go back and redo it. Just an idea.

[Ken Childs]

This flower wasn't an accidental creation but what's cool is these were grown from seeds collected last year and there are big variations in the flowers. Last year every flower look like this but those seeds were purchased. This year they range from solid yellow to the original pattern and everywhere in between.

I think you're definitely on to something here! I may have to go really crazy and take this one over to OOTB. :)