It's spring time...

Last weekend I took a walk in our neighbourhood and of course I took the camera with me. I also found out how I could make borders and a copyright notice more easily and consistent (using imagemagick and a batch script on linux for who is interested :cool:).

Please provide some C&C to both the frame and the pictures..

#1:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5306/...ecb293b953.jpg
This is the first shot I took that day and found that some leaves are cut off on the left side... This is something I need to work on... I didn't notice while I was taking the shot.

#2:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5222/...d981bd24d1.jpg
No comments on my part..

#3:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/...128fb261f1.jpg
I really like this picture, but perhaps the focus is a bit too far away?

#4:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5258/...2bc5feeccc.jpg
The whole time it was cloudy and when I took this shot the sun came through again. Although I don't think it ruined the shot. When photographing this flower I realized that my "super-zoom" lens is not really suitable for this kind of macro photography, it couldn't focus very well..
(And I now realize that I forgot to crop out that green leaf in the bottom left corner.. again something I didn't notice while shooting...)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dnperfors

(And I now realize that I forgot to crop out that green leaf in the bottom left corner.. again something I didn't notice while shooting...)

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David

That's another aspect of what is so good about learning. The important thing is that you saw this yourself, instead of someone else pointing it out to you. So, the next time I am sure you will be much more aware of all that is in your frame.

A very nice set of images.

And, yes, well done on the frame and you signature. Looks good. An appropriate size that does not overpower the photograph.

Hey David,
Good pictures.
How do Iyou put your name on the frame? I want to learn .
Amol

Hey Amol,

I used ImageMagick a set of command line tools to do image manipulations. For me it is the easiest way at the moment, but when you are not familiar with the command line or batch scripts, than you should probably look for some other method.
If you want to know I did something like (I don't have the code here so perhaps I made some mistakes):

Code:

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convert image.jpg -bordercolor white -border 25 -gravity SouthWest -font Arial -pointsize 20 -draw 'text 25,25 "(c) 2011 David Perfors"' output.jpg

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@Donald,
Thanks Donald, yeah I really think that you can learn a lot of looking critical to your own images. Criticizing your own images and images from someone else, AND letting others criticize your own images is something everybody should do... (Now I only should criticize others images...)

Very nice David, I especially love the first 2. Do you mind me asking what camera lens and settings you used. I love the way you have used DOF to make the subject stand out on all 4 shots.
I don't think the cut off leaves are a problem in the first shot, it's actually my favourite. I find it very hard to get perfect framing in a natural setting and this looks fine to me.
I also love #2 and like you have no comments except beautiful.
#3 looks fine the way it is. Focus could have been a bit more to the front but to my eyes it works fine this way.
#4 is an OK shot to me, but pretty standard compared to the other 3 which really stand out for the composition and use of selective focus and DOF
I'd love to see them all larger, and for sure I'm hoping to see more.
Ditto what Donald said on the frame.

Wendy

Photographing fields of flowers like your daffodils (#3) are so difficult, David. Every year I take photos of expanses of bluebells - and everyone gets ditched.

The only success that I have had was last year when there were sheep amongst the flowers which broke up my focus problems.

Thanks David.
I use Aperture 3 . Any idea if I can ,similarly, use it for putting my name on the image?
Amol

Arnol, I don't know Aperture3. I use Bibble and when exporting I can run an external application / script. Perhaps Aperture has similar functionality or even better ways of doing this.. You should ask the Aperture specialist...

Geoff, This was one of my first fields of flowers I ever shot, and this was the best I did. I didn't find it really difficult...

Wendy, I thought the Exif data was there, but apparently something went wrong... so here goes:
All photos are shot with a Nikon D40 with a Sigma 18-200 lens
Photonumber: ISO, Aperture, Shutterspeed, Focal lenght
#1: 200, F/5.6, 1/160, 98mm
#2: 200, F/6, 1/400, 155mm
#3: 200, F/6, 1/640, 135mm
#4: 200, F/5, 1/1250, 52mm

And yes, #4 is a bit "normal", but I like it pretty much...

That is all I can do for now.
Thanks for the comments :)

Amol,

You can use the BorderFX plugin for Aperture 3 to export images with a border and added text (including EXIF data).

Like this:
http://i51.tinypic.com/1e8bwz.jpg

- Paul