~Roses

[beachgirl444]

Experimenting with roses!

[Andrew76]

Hi Krissy, I think you're off to a fairly good start.

Some tips if I may? Your composition is decent - #'s 1, 2, and 4 being the best, in that order - #3 doesn't do it for me. Your focus is a little shallow on all of them, and I think you could really improve them by closing up your aperture. Or, if you have the capability, even stacking a few images for better DOF.

The thing that is bothering me the most though, is that you've blown the red channel on all 4 of the images, making the reds lose all their detail. I'm not sure if you've done that intentionally, for an effect, if so, all the power to you, but it doesn't add anything if you're trying to show off how delicate the petals of a rose are (which I think you are since you've shot them with water droplets, and at very close up).

I hope that may help you a little?

[beachgirl444]

Thank you for the tips! I kept getting an orange hue to the roses and wasn't sure why. I will definately try and change the aperture setting and wonder if a tripod would help also ~ I get a little shakey with the close-ups!

[Bobobird]

Excellent start.

Under bright light be careful with reds, greens and yellows. One way is to meter the surrounding green and then underexpose by 1-2 stops depending how bright it is.

Tripods help, even a monopod will but depends on whether you are bending over. It is sometimes easier to kneel and use the knee for support. Kneepads are much easier to carry then a tripod.

When I go out for flowers, I will usually leave the tripod in the car and do a couple of forays. One with just the camera, knee pads and maybe a low profile folding stool. I will try to remember those that will need a tripod will return for a 2nd round with the tripod for those remaining shots.

[beachgirl444]

Thanks Bobo, for the helpful hints ~ these were all taken in "bright" sunlight, which isn't probably always ideal when taking pictures! One of these days I'll get the hang of this! So much trial and error right now, but I really love the tips and advise given here!

[Bobobird]

Not to worry - the more the mistakes the merrier. Mistakes = experience.

[revi]

Krissy, to avoid blowing the red channel, you are often forced to 'under expose' the image (-1 exposure correction, more or less):
the camera seems less sensitive to red (or weighs it in such a way), so overexposes red flowers, and you have to correct that.
A good way to try out that kind of thing is to set an exposure correction of say -1 EV and use exposure bracketing to get 3 images,
one exposed as set, one over- and one under-exposed (by 0.7EV if possible). Then look at the three and check the histogram for the
red channel. After a while you'll know what correction is needed, and just use that.
We have the same problem with yellow flowers btw, as that colour is made up of red+green...

The direct sunlight is not the cause of the problem btw, you'd have the same with overcast weather.

Also, I'm not sure such saturated reds fit in the sRGB colour space, but that's another problem I'll gladly leave to the specialists.