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Hazel Grant
03-29-2011, 02:59 PM
Been working on birds and learning so much but now spring has sprung and the tulips called me I know they grow vertically, but this one was in a vase and bent over, giving a overhead light.

Nikon D40x, manual, F20, 1/13 sec 400 iso, no flash, spot focus. Used only available light from a glass door. Camera set on a table for stability. Slight cropping but bloom filled most of the frame.

Happy Spring!

Mitch Haimov
03-29-2011, 09:33 PM
I like the unusual composition of a subject we expect to be vertical and the way the stem curves in from near an upper corner. Normally I would think the subject should have more open space in front (left in this case) and less behind, but the curving leading line of the stem makes it work here. Reflecting the image so the stem leads in from upper left rather than right would be more typical of western art and therefore more pleasing to some, but the orientation that was actually in front of your camera works for me. Subject closer to the top of the frame than the bottom is a plus. Dark green, OOF background works well, although it could benefit from some dust spot removal. Textures in the petals are nice, except where they are lost in highlights (upper petal) and shadows. Good use of DOF--petals all reasonably sharp (a little softness near stem, but not bad), BG not. If reshooting is an option--cut tulips generally don't last long--I recommend a similar composition with something such as thin white fabric to diffuse the light. This would help with the highlights and the shadows. Can also save yourself some post-processing time by cleaning your sensor first. Thanks for sharing!

Brendan Dozier
03-29-2011, 10:52 PM
Great looking flower, and nice comp Hazel. I agree with Mitch, the horizontal position makes it more interesting and unique. Mitch makes some great suggestions. Wondering if camera was just a bit too close, and if pulled back just a bit, focus would be tad sharper.

Hazel Grant
03-30-2011, 09:05 AM
Thanks Mitch and Brendan for your comments. And thanks for the specifics. I do need to clean my sensor---meed to get brave enough to do that. I hear so much about "don't touch the sensors!" that I've been afraid to tackle that. I have the same flower shot from just a little ways back and will post that later today. It shows more of the stem coming out and might be more pleasing. Thanks again.
I'll try the diffused light idea, too.

Ken Childs
03-30-2011, 10:58 AM
Hi Hazel, I also think this orientation works as presented....you never know if trying something different like this will work but in this case I think it does. You definitely need to clean your sensor but the spots should be relatively easy to clone away. Mitch covered the critique pretty well but I will add that the BG could use a round of noise removal and that I think you could pull out a bit more sharpness using the high pass filter, assuming you're using Photoshop that is. :S3:.

Steve Maxson
03-30-2011, 01:36 PM
Hi Hazel. Almost all of my thoughts have already been covered above. I would just add that you might consider some careful cloning to remove some of the specular highlights in the top petal. A little more work in PP will take this up a couple notches. :S3: