In the Sun

[alissasanderson]

I took this shot because of the way the sun seemed to make the seed pods glow. They do not glow in the photograph, and I don't know why. I took several shots at different angles, exposures, etc... and this was the best of the lot.

How to make it better?

[hsroxas]

Unless you have objections to using artificial background, that is one suggestion I can think of. A piece of cloth or board with contrasting color that would make the main subject stand out.
Blurring the background as you did, was not able to isolate the main subject maybe because the colors are similar. Otherwise that should have done the trick.

[alissasanderson]

And here's where I prove just how little I know about photography...

Originally Posted by hsroxas

Unless you have objections to using artificial background, that is one suggestion I can think of. A piece of cloth or board with contrasting color that would make the main subject stand out.
Blurring the background as you did, was not able to isolate the main subject maybe because the colors are similar. Otherwise that should have done the trick.

The plant was backlit by the sun. I was facing directly into the setting sun. If I had put an artificial background back there, it would have blocked the light that was causing it to glow in the first place. Right? Or am I totally missing something?

Teach me! I want to learn!

[Murtasma]

Perhaps just placing a sheet of paper out of the frame reflecting the light back on to the front of the pod would have gotten that glow effect you were looking for.

[hoges]

frustration of photography "trying to capture on photo what the eye can see" the 2 stalks in the background even though blurred cause the main one to blend in with them ,the background even out of focus still has stucture to it. The answer: change the angle to give as least amount of uniformity to the background, hope this helps

[jiminyClickit]

alissasanderson,

After-shot solution:

[alissasanderson]

Look at that! That's more of the glow that I remember.

Must find more hours in the day to practice photoshop