Easter Lily

[Joel Eade]

This my first post in this forum. I recently acquired a nice used Canon 180mm macro and gave it a try this weekend. I set up two flashes on either side and triggered them with pocket wizards. The flash on the right was set to 1/8 power and was used directly, the one on the left was set to 1/8 power but was bounced off a white umbrella. The background is a blue cloth. The photo was shot in RAW then converted in ACR and processed with CS5. I bicolor filter was used in Nik Color Efex Pro.

1d MKIV
180mm f/3.5L + 25mm extension tube
Tripod + Cable release
Manual mode, manual focus
Evaluative metering
ISO 1000
f/25
1/160

[Dennis Bishop]

I like the lighting, the depth of field, and your choice of how much of the flower to include. However, the intensity of the blue background -- especially with the white and orange against it -- seems too great. I toned the blue down a bit and added a radial gradient. I also cropped a bit from the left and added some canvas to the top for reasons of composition (where the divine proportion lines fall with respect to the elements in the image).

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Joel. Good to see you here in Macro and congrats on the new lens! I like the lighting effect you produced with the two flashes and the water droplets add interest, though I agree with Dennis that the intense blue of the background is drawing my eye away from the flower. For my tastes, I prefer the more subtle blue that Dennis created in his repost. Since you were using an artificial background you should be able to experiment with a variety of colors in future efforts. :S3: I hope to see more of your macro work!

[Joel Eade]

Thanks for the critiques....I am totally new to macro so I appreciate the help and i like the repost.

I did shoot this with a black BG as well but for some reason I really liked the bright blue in contrast with orange/brown parts of the flower...but then again I usually like stuff that's weird, anyway thanks again and i will continue up the learning curve:S3:

[Marina Scarr]

I really like Dennis' repost. The colors seem to blend much better to my eyes.

[jack williamson]

I like the comp and the lighting, I prefer the desaturated BG.

Jack

[Julie Kenward]

Joel, I can definitely see where the intense blue in the OP would work for a poster but for a print I'd also have to go with Dennis' version. That said, comp-wise, I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the flower base. I realize the stamen are the "star" here but it feels cut off in proportion. A bit more of the base of the flower in the image might have balanced it a bit more for me. Nice DOF though and good use of flash!

[Ken Childs]

Hi Joel, I really like the bold blue of the OP but I also like Dennis' revised version. If this were mine, I can see 2 ways I might take this. With the dark blue, I would crop in tighter starting from the bottom of the frame.... maybe as a square.....so the flower tails off out of frame just before the lower left corner. With the lighter BG, I agree with Jules that more flower is needed. Keep those macro photos coming!