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7th May 2016, 06:56 PM
#1
Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
I'm not much of a flower photographer, but it's a pretty time of year. C&C welcome as always.
1. Bleeding hearts

2. Lost buttercup
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7th May 2016, 07:55 PM
#2
Re: Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
You have some very difficult subjects there, Simon.
With the Bleeding Hearts, I think you need to to start again with some careful flower arranging to work out exactly what will be in sharp focus and the best angle for achieving that result. Possibly this is more than can be achieved with just a single shot. Flower photography is really taking a flower's portrait so it needs as much care and pre planning as when doing a formal portrait photograph of a person.
I spend a lot of time in arranging a scene before even thinking about pressing the shutter. That is where a tripod is so useful for giving you plenty of time to keep thinking and messing around to get a good composition. And, as far as possible, I try to avoid strong sunlight. Sometimes it is necessary to remove parts of a plant or at least to tie them back out of the shot. This can be very difficult to arrange in windy conditions.
Your second image is a nicely thought provoking composition but I think I would crop out part of the out of focus area on the right. Also, I suspect the flower would work a little better if the top petal wasn't drooping down.
Botanical subjects are so difficult to get perfect and serious photograph of them is something of a specialist art form.
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8th May 2016, 08:57 AM
#3
Re: Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
Thanks Geoff - these are snaps more than carefully considered images, in truth I'm not sure why I posted them here. I'm shooting a lot more at the moment but need to take more time and produce fewer, higher quality images.
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8th May 2016, 06:33 PM
#4
Re: Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
Sometimes, Simon, it is necessary to shoot quick without any real 'thinking time' and just hope for the best; and with other subjects the requirement is to relax then spend a bit of time looking around the scene and thinking before shooting anything. I like to spend time thinking and going a bit of 'gardening' around flower subjects so as to tidy up the foreground/background removing or rearranging any potential problems such as potential over exposure spots of distracting items.
Then I often use a 'sunscreen' (Lastolite Difflector) to block direct sunlight and even out any harshness of contrast. Alternatively, simply placing part of my body to create a bit of light shadow can work.
Last year I took on a project to photograph botanical subjects from one location throughout the year. With at least one image per week. Which became a bit of a struggle during February! 
This is the result.
http://www.pbase.com/crustacean/flowers_2015
I started full of confidence over my photographic skills but soon realised that I still had a lot to learn. However, I think the experience eventually helped me with my general photography abilities.
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8th May 2016, 06:43 PM
#5
Re: Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
Nice set Geoff
I'll stick flower photography on the list of things to learn. I was looking through my photos earlier and I'm still at the "kid in a sweet shop" stage, I have tried many different things but haven't learnt any one style in great depth. Still, I have a few images that I like across a range of subjects and my enthusiasm isn't waning, so time and practice will do wonders I'm sure.
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9th May 2016, 08:55 AM
#6
Re: Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
I have learned a lot from Geoff and John2 about flower photography in the past, Simon...all I need to do is go back to them again and pactice, especially the pp side of the equation.
Anyway, I like #2 -- something spontaneous...thought provoking. I wonder if someone put that there intentionally?
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9th May 2016, 10:20 AM
#7
Re: Bleeding hearts and lost buttercups
That's exactly what I thought Izzie - I liked the narrative behind it and I tried in PP to bring out the golden glow in the hollow.
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