Magnolia

[rtbaum]

I believe that I have committed a faux pax in my previous posts, I have not been posting my EXIF data nor my intent for the posts. That being said, I would like to try again. I would appreciate critique of my attempts to improve my shots. I have been trying to become more comfortable with my Tamron 90mm macro. This shot was shot last weekend at the Clemens Munsinger gardens on a beautiful, but very windy day. EXIF data: f/16, 1/250 sec, ISO 200.

[jeeperman]

Well Randy, I think your exposure of the white in the sun was well handled. I think it looks as if you have two subjects with two main flowers in focus. Having shot this at a little distance to get both in has blurred the background some but had you went tighter on say one flower I think your background would have been a bit better and less of a distraction. Composition with flowers tends to be a bit tough especially when working with a busy background. I like the flower on the right and see a possible heavy crop there.

I had a quick play, you could also do with a color channel adjustment, and a slight sharpening to really make things pop.

[rtbaum]

I have tried this crop, please let me know if this works; now about color channel adjustment, I must admit that I am a bit out of my comfort zone. How do I make this happen? It would be helpful, I am certain, if I were to say that I am somewhat capable in Lightroom 3.6 and am working on learning CS4.

[Manfred M]

I think your first shot is far too busy. While the flower(s) are the subject matter, the background is so busy that the viewer is distracted and the eyes keep flitting all over the scene trying to figure out what to focus on. Simplify your composition.

You are in the right track with your second posting, but it is still rather busy with too much white floating around distracting the viewer. White is a tough colour to shoot. It tends to grab your attention. The background is still not soft enough; a smaller f-stop will help. I find the leftmost petal on the flower doesn't quite do it for me; the rest of the flower is a nice tight ball and somehow the petal just goes the wrong way and upsets the overall balance of the scene.