Sunflower Center Detail

[Arthur Morris]

I've loved bugs since I was about 11 but I'd love to see more flowers here :).

Canon 180mm macro lens with the EOS-5D Mark III. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/40 sec. at f/9 in Av mode.

Don't be shy; all honest comments welcome.

[denise ippolito]

Artie, this is lovely. The details and comp really draw you in. I might consider a slight touch off the bottom to clean up the LRC a little. Nicely done and I wish it were mine.

[Dave Johnson]

Hi Arthur. Cool shot, and it certainly keeps you interested! Love the detail and the hint of green LRC.

I find flowers really challenging from a compositional point but have a few I might post.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, this is lovely. The details and comp really draw you in. I might consider a slight touch off the bottom to clean up the LRC a little. Nicely done and I wish it were mine.

Thanks Lady D; I had not noticed that little green smudge. How much off the bottom?

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Arthur. Cool shot, and it certainly keeps you interested! Love the detail and the hint of green LRC.

I find flowers really challenging from a compositional point but have a few I might post.

Get to it Dave!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Artie I like the fine detail and the techs etc spot on. The composition, well I have to admit I sometimes struggle, the "centre" is a little off centre which is a good thing - I think but I wonder if the image would have more impact if the"centre" had been placed nearer to a corner so there was a kind of radiating effect? Perhaps you had considered this and thought it was altogether too predicable to put it there? I will await with interest to see the responses.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks Lady D; I had not noticed that little green smudge. How much off the bottom?

Just enough to evict the teeny tiny green in the LRC.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie I like the fine detail and the techs etc spot on. The composition, well I have to admit I sometimes struggle, the "centre" is a little off centre which is a good thing - I think but I wonder if the image would have more impact if the"centre" had been placed nearer to a corner so there was a kind of radiating effect? Perhaps you had considered this and thought it was altogether too predicable to put it there? I will await with interest to see the responses.

Thanks Jon. Your thinking is pretty much right on. I can add that if I place the center towards the corner nearer to a rule of thirds spot I would have had to have gotten much tighter and lost a lot of the pattern....

[Arthur Morris]

Just enough to evict the teeny tiny green in the LRC.

Thanks again Lady D. Even a small crop from the bottom upset the delicate compositional balance so I covered the green with a Quick Mask that needed a 1 pixel Gaussian Blur so that it did not look too sharp; that corner has some d-o-f fall-off in sharpness.

[Dave Leroy]

Repost looks more complete and better. Interesting exchange with Jon. It seems so tempting to move center a bit more to a corner. I bet it looks great at full size.

[denise ippolito]

Looks great Artie!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks both. The compositional balance here is quite delicate....

[Dave Mills]

Art, Curious to know why you shot this at F/9...

[Arthur Morris]

It seemed like a good idea at the time. What did you have in mind?

[Dave Mills]

I was wondering if you were after maximum sharpness since 85% of the image appears sharp with DOF fall off on the bottom. Going to F/22 might have solved some of the fall off if that is what you were after.
Other than that I feel it's a strong image...

[Arthur Morris]

Might have, but I was obviously working with a curved surface. As there was a gentle breeze I would have needed a lot higher ISO for f/22.

[Bob Miller]

I liked this image as soon as I opened it. I really like the dof you have here in the center with the cool looking obelisks. I personally would crop just a small tad from the top to bring the eye into those obelisks even more.

[Marina Scarr]

Great details, colors and texture to this capture. I wish the center of the flower weren't so centered.

[Arthur Morris]

Great details, colors and texture to this capture. I wish the center of the flower weren't so centered.

Me too but there was no other place to put it as far as I could figure .