a simple flower

[Catalina]

Is this a good picture? a bad picture?
I have just studied sixth months of photography
Please comment

[FrankMi]

Hi Catalina, I'm all for breaking the rules whenever I can but I think this is a case where applying some of the rules would help enhance the image. I would crop the image so that the center of the flower is more in the upper third of the image (rule of thirds). This would also loose the distracting brown patches at the bottom of the image.

Usually, water drops on a blossom add interest and it does in this case as well. I sometimes carry a fine mist spray bottle with me for just that purpose

I think I would shoot either in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid the harsh shadows and high contrast.

You need to increase the focus of the flower blossom without losing the softness of the background by increasing your aperture from f4 to about f8, (and maybe even f11 if the background is far enough behind the flower) and drop the shutter speed to compensate for the aperture change. Look at the image closely in the viewfinder to ensure that the center of the flower is sharpest in focus and the background is still blurred. You may need to adjust the aperture to get it just the way you want it to look. If you are unsure, experiment with different aperture settings and compare the results on the PC monitor to see what you like best.

Even is there is wind blowing the flower around, 1/4000 sec is much higher than needed so you can safely drop that down to give you room to adjust the aperture. Hope this helps!

[Catalina]

Thak you very much