tulip

[shutterbug]

I got the sepal sharp, I think. Why aren't the petals sharp? I want to blow this up but want to know if the image is good enough.

FYI, I did this hand-held with 18-55mm lens. Canon Rebel

All comments are greatly appreciated.

[Teewinot]

Yes, there is great sharpness with the stamens in the center. Your petals would come into focus with a change in depth of field. What f-stop did you use on this shot? Try changing your aperture (in this case make it smaller) and see what happens. One downside you may encounter is that you'll probably lose the blurriness of the background, which is a nice feature. I always struggle with that! Otherwise, lovely flower. One thing you might also try is to shade the flower, shoot it on an overcast day, or shoot it at different times of the day to try to eliminate the shadow and slight wash-out effect created by the intense sunlight.

Nice job!

[shutterbug]

stamens? I wonder what sepals are? My f-stop was 5.6. You're right about the shading. That bothered me too. It was shot at around noon on a sunny day. I'm glad you're pointing these things out to me. I'm going to Ottawa's Tulip Festival this coming weekend and I hope to get some good flower shots.
My camera is only a 6 pixel. If I get a good flower shot, I'd like to blow it up. How big can I make it, do you think?

[Teewinot]

Stamens are the male parts in the center of the flower that usually stick up in a bunch. You know what petals are of course...sepals are similar and technically the outer whorl of (usually) green protective parts (protect the bud when the flower isn't open yet, then hang out under the petals)...however, sometimes sepals are identical to petals, as in lilies I believe (3 petals and 3 sepals that look the same). Anyways, you probably didn't need that much information!

Noon is a tough time of the day to shoot flowers if it's sunny. I've been there many times.

Knowing only that your camera is 6MP, I can't tell for sure how big you can blow up your image...it depends on the mode you shoot in. Check your manual and find out the mode you need to be in to get the maximum resolution. I would say you could get a pretty decent blow-up with 6MP (i.e. well over 8X10).

Have fun at the tulip festival and be sure to share some shots with us!

[Teewinot]

...forgot to comment on the f-stop....try f/8 or f/11. This will, as I said, lessen the blur of your background, but it will allow for more (and hopefully all) of your flower to be in focus. When you shoot tulips at the festival, you might try different depths of field with the same flowers...sometimes blurring various of the parts of a flower can be artistic.

[shutterbug]

Originally Posted by Teewinot

...forgot to comment on the f-stop....try f/8 or f/11. This will, as I said, lessen the blur of your background, but it will allow for more (and hopefully all) of your flower to be in focus. When you shoot tulips at the festival, you might try different depths of field with the same flowers...sometimes blurring various of the parts of a flower can be artistic.

You've been so very helpful. Thank you. I even tried f/6.3. That also helped a bit.

[jiminyClickit]

shutterbug,

If you want to see how your photo might look enlarged, here's one way:

http://digital-photography-school.co...2775#post22775

[shutterbug]

Originally Posted by Teewinot

Stamens are the male parts in the center of the flower that usually stick up in a bunch. You know what petals are of course...sepals are similar and technically the outer whorl of (usually) green protective parts (protect the bud when the flower isn't open yet, then hang out under the petals)...however, sometimes sepals are identical to petals, as in lilies I believe (3 petals and 3 sepals that look the same). Anyways, you probably didn't need that much information!

Noon is a tough time of the day to shoot flowers if it's sunny. I've been there many times.

Knowing only that your camera is 6MP, I can't tell for sure how big you can blow up your image...it depends on the mode you shoot in. Check your manual and find out the mode you need to be in to get the maximum resolution. I would say you could get a pretty decent blow-up with 6MP (i.e. well over 8X10).

Have fun at the tulip festival and be sure to share some shots with us!

Wow, that is a lot if information. But now I know the difference between sepal and stamen.

One of the things I like about winter is that the sun doesn't rise until 7:30 or so. That way, I can get the sweet light and my sleep. Now, the sun comes up at 5:00. I'd have to set the alarm to wake me at 4 so I can be somewhere to take those nifty shots. Maybe if I had someone hold an umbrella over the flower I could take a better shot even at high noon.

[shutterbug]

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

shutterbug,

If you want to see how your photo might look enlarged, here's one way:

http://digital-photography-school.co...2775#post22775

The mathematics slowed me down, somewhat. I like the idea of taking and printing portions and then assembling them on the wall to form one large picture. That way I can see how it will look before taking it to a professional print house.

BTW, my camera is Canon Rebel. So, is this photo good enough to enlarge and do you think I could get a 20" x 20" out of it?

[jiminyClickit]

shutterbug,

The idea is that you can see 'about" how well your photo might stand up to an enlargement, without having to print all 16 sheets (or however many your printer needs). In fact if you just put "D" on your monitor as large as you can, you don't need to print anything for this one.

After all this, I can't say "Yes, this photo is good enough to enlarge." That is up to you and what you decide "good enough" means. If you decide Photo example "D" above is "good enough," then you could get a 20" x 20" and be pleased with it, especially if viewed from 10 feet away or more.

You can use the steps above to generally see how good a photo is, but so many other factors are involved, you may have to get one enlarged to actually know for sure. There is no simple answer. Any photo can be enlarged; whether it would please you is totally up to you.