One I liked from the D300s; Garden Windlower!

[Craig Thompson]

After all the complaining I did in the "Photo Gear" forum about the noise issue I was having with the D300s, and the wonderful help and response from the people posting information,..

...I thought it only appropriate to post an image from that shoot! One that I thought turned out very nice!

This is a horticultural variety of "anemone". Sort of a cultivated version of the "spring beauties" we get here in Michigan!

D300s, ISO400 & 1/350th sec. @ (effective) f8, 200mm f4 Micro (manual focus), PK13 & PK12 extension tubes, gitzo tripod.

I "Love" the light on this one!!! Not much DOF at all, but I feel that still works quite well for this image!!!

[Anita Bower]

I love these anemones. They brighten the end of summer. The light is lovely in this image, creating different shades of white. I would like to see it with a bit more dof for comparison purposes. I like the focus on the center. Wish there was a little more room on the right to get all the petal in.

[Dave Leroy]

I really like the choice of dof; it adds to the peek a boo look of the flower. The black bg also works nicely. I feel it needs a bit more room all around to pick up the bit missing and to add a bit infront to sort of give the flower a place to open up into. But never mind that, it is a very lovely photo. Dave

[Harshad Barve]

This is lovely image , I liked the use DOF here
TFS

[Ed Vatza]

I like the sharpness seen in the center of the flower but would really like to see a bit more dof all around. I agree that the image could use more room on all four sides. It looks very cramped in the frame. I also think I would like to see the stem come in at a little more of an angle than shooting straight in from the side.

[Craig Thompson]

Thank you everyone for your comments!

I understand and appreciate the comments concerning the somewhat,.. "tight" nature of the framing for this image. Normally, I would agree that there needs to be more room for the flower, and I have a few shots where I did frame the blossom with bit more room on the right side.

However, my choice of this particular framing and the shallow DOF, was deliberate on my part. My intent was to focus on the light & shadows skimming the petals and, as was mentioned by Dave, the "peek-a-boo" feel of the composition!

I purposely wanted to avoid having this look like "just another flower against a black background" shot. (...not that there's anything "wrong" with those!!) ;) I feel this framing works with this image, partly because the edge of the petal "leaves" the composition on the right and is not barely or "just" touching the edge of the frame. I feel this works with the flow of the composition and purposely "leads" the eye out of the frame on the right as part of an elongated "S" curve!

I do not want anyone who commented to feel that I am upset, arguing or that I "disagree" with the comments made concerning this image. ;) I'm simply acknowledging the critiques and explaining my compositional choices!

I do appreciate the comments! :)

Thanks again,

Craig

[Julie Kenward]

Craig, I have to agree that additional room around the frame would be ideal but I'm fine with the DOF. My eye went right to the yellow in the center and didn't really care that everything else was soft and diffused.

I do agree with Ed that the stem coming in at more of an angle would also have been nice but I still really like this image overall.

Now, don't quote me on this because I don't really know for sure but I believe you have some chromatic abberation going on between the white petals and the dark BG - see the green and yellow rims around some of the petals? You might try to remove that as well.

[Craig Thompson]

...Now, don't quote me on this because I don't really know for sure but I believe you have some chromatic abberation going on between the white petals and the dark BG - see the green and yellow rims around some of the petals? You might try to remove that as well.

Julie,

Thank you for your comments!

I think you're right about the chromatic abberation on the petals edges. I think part of that might be due to the fact that the blossom is not actually pure white, it's got a lot of pastel greens in it's petals and the "black" BG is not actually black either. It's a green bush in shade.

I can't say for sure if that could have contributed to the green fringe or not, but I see it too!

Craig

[Vida van der Walt]

Love the dof here Craig. Lovely light and a beautiful image.