Lily

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A850~ Sony 100mm F2.8 Macro~Sony HVL-F58AM~ISO 200~1/250 sec~F20~HH~manual exposure~10-19-2010~Houston, Texas~CS5
Took a break from the bugs. comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill

[Ken Childs]

Hey Bill, lovely exposure on this lovely flower! The colors look good and the water drops are an added bonus. There are a few highlights on some of the water drops that could be toned down but the main fix needed is to get the center of the flower away from the center of the image. I'd crop a little from the right and bottom and a lot from the left, bringing the flower center closer to the LL ROT position. It looks good but a few tweaks should make it look even better. :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Bill,
This may be my favorite water lily as the colors just explode off the screen. These are tough in the field.....because you want to avoid clipping any of the center and not have too much stuff on the peripheral area.....so Ken's advice was going to be my recommendation. I will tell yo this.....if possible to work your way around.....you can get the whole center in w/ very little other stuff.....you may have to turn the camera in an unusual position (diagonal perhaps) to make it work. On the other side, I would prefer the whole thing in.....but that can introduce other unwanted stuff as well. Did you use the new flash?......colors looks fantastic and the light looks VG too.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks Ken and Roman. Roman; yes I used the new flash (Sony HVL-F58AM). I had a Sony HVL-F56AM until I found out that flash units are not nearly as water resistant as cameras and lenses, and a light rain did it in. I might add that I generally shoot manually, and don't worry about flash compensation etc. This may not be the best method, but taking a test shot, examining the histogram and the LCD image, and adjusting accordingly works pretty well. As far as cropping goes, I didn't do any here, and with a 24MP image, there is plenty of leeway. Actually, if the image was symmetrical, which it isn't quite, centering would be preferred IMO. I also took other images of the flower, using similar cropping as you guys have suggested. Regards~Bill

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Bill. The colors and sharpness are excellent and I agree that the water drops are a plus. The one thing that I notice is several clipped tips of petals which, I feel, detracts from your comp. Cropping is always subjective and with a flower like this, cropping to cut, rather than clip, one petal may result in clipping others. Ken's idea has some merit, or you might just crop small amounts from the left, bottom, and right to achieve the "cut" effect. :) This would also reduce a few little distracting bits in the background.

[kostas nianiopoulos]

the exposure looks pretty good , i like this image a lot , i wish it was mine , i like the colour as well , for my taste is a verry good image well done !!!

[Dave Woeller]

I don't get to stop by and comment as often as I would like, but images like this make me glad when I do. Great exposure and a beautiful subject. Like it as is, but the suggestions above sound like great alternatives.

[Mike Moats]

Hey William, very nice vibrant colors and great details. Wish the right and left balanced better, but you have to work with what.s offered. Good work