Poppy
Made this image during a morning walk with the dog. Instead of the usual frontal view, I chose this side view. While I recognize the front edge is OOF, I'd like your opinion(s) on whether it is a spoiler or whether the image is pleasing as is. Your comments/crits are invited.
40D, Canon 70-200 f/4L IS + 1.4x @ 246mm, ISO 250, 1/125 @ f/8, HH
Roger, I'm okay with the front edge OOF, since you took an interesting angle not often seen on this open poppy, especially since the stamens are all young and fresh, and since the side petals keep you focused on the subject center. Even though you shot HH, you may have been able to refocus on the front of the one petal and blend the two images to get a little more focus on the front, but I odn't think it is necessary.
Lovely coloration and lighting on this one, and again, I really like the angle of view.
I have no problem with the OOF edge the angle of view gives you a unique comp and the center of the poppy is sharp which holds your attention.
Don Lacy
You don't take a photograph, you make it - Ansel Adams
There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
http://www.witnessnature.net/
https://500px.com/lacy
Roger, I think this is one of the best poppy images I have seen in a while. The colors are gorgeous and I love the different view you took to create this. That purple center really pops against the orange and your DOF there makes all the difference. Lovely image!
Thanks for your comments. I recently posted a different floral image at our monthly camera club salon and the judges got their shorts in a knot because the front petal was a bit OOF. So, I was a bit uncertain about what others might think about the poppy image - which I really like!
Roger, it's so indiscernable here and has no effect on the overall image IMO. There are times when an OOF front petal can destroy an image - but that just isn't the case here. It is so minor and so far away from the main focal point (the center of the poppy) that it's almost an afterthought.
Beautiful color and detail. I like the angle you chose. I'd like to see the lower left corner and center left BG blurred a bit more to match the rest of the BG. Nicely done!
I agree with Anita but Anita, did you mean the lower and center right? That is the area that I would like to see match the rest of the background. The leaves are just a bit to leafy. I'd like to see them blurred more.Originally Posted by Anita Bower
Yes, I did mean right. :-)
So help me out here. What would be the procedure, in CS3, to blur that area. I've always been concerned about sharpening, not blurring an image.
Roger:
Here is your image with the areas on the right and upper part of flower blurred a bit more. What do you think?
What I did is this: Created a new layer (control + j). Used Lasso to select areas for further blurring. Used Gaussian Blur at around 5.6 to blur. Then went to >Select >Modify>Contract (3 pixeld)>OK. Then back to Gaussian Blur. I did this several times. until the selected areas were blurred as I wanted. Deselect, merge layers and it is done. I use Photoshop 7. I assume you can do the same in CS3.
Everything I did above I learned on this forum!
Roger, another way to do this is to make the duplicate layer (Cmd or Ctrl J) and then add 5-6 pixels of gaussian blur as Anita did (Filter/blur/gaussian blur). Now go down to the bottom of the layers pallate and add a mask to that layer. Make sure black is your foreground color on the left tool bar and use the brush tool to 'erase' all the blurred areas except for where you want it to stay blurred. If you go too far, flip the foreground color to white and that will paint it back in. Use the opacity setting for the brush tool to bring the opacity down from 100% to say 50% and then 25% and use that to blend the unblurred areas from the blurred.
It sounds complicated but if you do it once you'll see it's extremely easy and works really well in almost every case. Send me a PM if you get stuck!
Thanks for the tips. I'll try both procedures.
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