The Clown

[FrankMi]

The Amaryllis Clown is interesting in that the top three pedals of the blossom are striped whereas the bottom two pedals are solid. My last close-up of the Amaryllis Siren was kind of a flop so I thought I would try a different approach this time.

Although I normally do flowers in sharp focus, I am trying for a softer look this time.



The good thing is that with the help I get here at CiC, I usually learn from my flops so the exercise has benefit.

Comments? Criticisms? You think it's great? You really don't care?

[Marie Hass]

Frank, I like the idea, but not the treatment?

Maybe a subtle vignette? The beautiful pistils and the stamen are lost in the striping. Is there another way, like a 3/4 view, different DoF that would show them off?

Marie

[FrankMi]

Maybe a subtle vignette? The beautiful pistils and the stamen are lost in the striping. Is there another way, like a 3/4 view, different DoF that would show them off?

Hi Marie, I was trying for an interesting (different?) perspective than we normally see with blossoms. However, a reshoot with a more conventional composition may be required. Oh well, back to the drawing boards.

[FootLoose]

I like that soft treatment, Frank. I used to have dozens of these flowers (I know them as hippeastrums) and took plenty of shots of them but could never quite decide which part of the flower to focus on. But you have produced a good portrait of the inner parts which also shows the detail of the petals.

[John 2]

Hi Frank,. Perhaps a slightly higher viewpoint to drop the stamens into the green area would help. Not my area of experience but just a thought.

[FrankMi]

I like that soft treatment, Frank. I used to have dozens of these flowers (I know them as hippeastrums) and took plenty of shots of them but could never quite decide which part of the flower to focus on. But you have produced a good portrait of the inner parts which also shows the detail of the petals.

Thank you Greg! I know what you mean about composition decisions. I try a lot of 'what if' experiments. Sometimes they work out quite well and sometimes, well, maybe not so much.

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank,. Perhaps a slightly higher viewpoint to drop the stamens into the green area would help. Not my area of experience but just a thought.

Thanks for the feedback John. Yes, a higher viewpoint would minimize the interference of the stripes with the stamen. I do believe a reshoot is in order to get closer to the goal.

[chauncey]

It does my aging heart good to see a fellow photographer struggling with what appears to be my problems...how shallow a DOF/how soft the petals/what belongs in focus and what doesn't/yadda, yadda, yadda.

Regarding this shot, I might have softened the petals and made the LL corner go-away, but...I am, by no means, the resident professional.

[FrankMi]

It does my aging heart good to see a fellow photographer struggling with what appears to be my problems...how shallow a DOF/how soft the petals/what belongs in focus and what doesn't/yadda, yadda, yadda.

Regarding this shot, I might have softened the petals and made the LL corner go-away, but...I am, by no means, the resident professional.

Sounds like two peas in a pod. LOL!

I did duplicate the layer, applied a 30 pixel blur to one of the copies, then blended 50% of the blurred image with the original with the exception of the stamens and pistil. Still too sharp methinks!

I also considered cropping tighter but felt that wouldn't work. I also considered cloning out or replacing the background in the lower left corner but in the end, decided to leave it natural.

[Brownbear]

Hi Frank,

No flower expert either but I love flowers, and I love the soft colours and the perspective of this image. I like it more with the left side cropped just a bit to eliminate the bottom corner. Is it possible to make those stamen stand out a little more by sharpening. If not I think you have a beauty to photograph again to make them stand out.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Frank. I think the intensive tiny red dots in the petals are making us think that the flower is still not soft although you have softened it. Why not eliminating them with a square crop with stamens in the center

[Wavelength]

i liked the image very much; yet i would love a fill frame type for this kind

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank,

No flower expert either but I love flowers, and I love the soft colours and the perspective of this image. I like it more with the left side cropped just a bit to eliminate the bottom corner. Is it possible to make those stamen stand out a little more by sharpening. If not I think you have a beauty to photograph again to make them stand out.

I appreciate your comments Christina. I'll try a tighter crop but I think the problem is that both the stamen and the background pedals are competing in contrast making it difficult to visually separate them.

Hi Frank. I think the intensive tiny red dots in the petals are making us think that the flower is still not soft although you have softened it. Why not eliminating them with a square crop with stamens in the center

Thank you for the suggestion Binnur. I'm posting one below with a square crop. Let me know what you think.

i liked the image very much; yet i would love a fill frame type for this kind

Hi Nandakumar, thank you for commenting! This one is a tighter crop. Does it help?

Hopefully this version will move us in the right direction. All of your feedback is most appreciated!

[FrankMi]

Hi Marie,

it took a bit but I tried to get a 3/4 view where the pistil and stamen weren't in conflict with the red stripes and I added additional softening.

I still haven't figured out how Kathleen Clemons gets her flower images looking so soft and yet sharp at the same time. If anyone has a clue, I'd sure like to know the secret!

Is this closer to what you had in mind?

[vaez]

very nice

[bnnrcn]

Hi Frank, I think crop works better but still not very soft. So, I played with your image without asking permission and sorry for that. I will remove it if you don't like . I softened the image with some surface blur and here is the result.

[bnnrcn]

And here is the whole image with surface blur

[Brownbear]

Hi Frank,

I like the crop but yes it is missing that subtle softness of Kathleen Clemons flowers. And Binnurs softness is nice but not the same.

I see what you are trying for as her flowers are so inspiring beautiful. I see that same beauty and softness with wonderful detail in your flower shot for Marie... (But the background is not the same as Kathleen's. It looks to me like Kathleen photographs many, if not all of her flowers outdoors using the natural light and surroundings for gorgeous colours. Perhaps with a macro lens, a wide aperture and up close? And maybe she uses your dreamy effect to soften the images just a bit? Simply guessing...

[FrankMi]

Thanks Binnur. Feel free to modify my images any time you wish. It is one of the best ways to convey your thoughts and for me to learn. I had played with softening up the image but I would have had to shot this one with a shallow DoF to get the look that I think you are trying to obtain.

I had actually started out going in the opposite direction by focus stacking this shot to remove blur so it isn't easy to reverse the process. In addition, the original images were so shallow in DoF that it took 27 stacked images to get this as sharp as it is. The real issue, I believe is poor planning on my part.

I started out trying to get the detail and later realized that what I really needed was more DoF. If the stamen weren't right up against the stripes as Marie pointed out earlier, I might have restacked the image with just the shots that had the stamen clear.

Come to think about it, I might just go back and try that to see what kind of a result it would provide.

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank,

I like the crop but yes it is missing that subtle softness of Kathleen Clemons flowers. And Binnurs softness is nice but not the same.

I see what you are trying for as her flowers are so inspiring beautiful. I see that same beauty and softness with wonderful detail in your flower shot for Marie... (But the background is not the same as Kathleen's. It looks to me like Kathleen photographs many, if not all of her flowers outdoors using the natural light and surroundings for gorgeous colours. Perhaps with a macro lens, a wide aperture and up close? And maybe she uses your dreamy effect to soften the images just a bit? Simply guessing...

You are correct Christina, I need to shoot these with a shallow DoF if I want to get them soft like Kathleen's images are. I may just experiment with a limited focus stack to see if I can get some parts very sharp and still retain most of the DoF for the softness. Yes indeed, that might just be an interesting 'what if' experiment to try!