sunflower under the sun

[diablo]

Hello all,

Here is a shot of a sun flower at Singapore. Because I was using only a UV filter and not a polarizing filter, the sky is whited out. Could you advise how I may improve the picture?



BTW, because I use GIMP on linux and am new to it, I try as much as I can to get the picture good with in camera composition. And I use a Sony A-100 alpha.

Thanks
Gautham Kasinath

[Teewinot]

Hi diablo. I can't help you with the white sky (that is something I struggle with time and time again and my solution is to just try a bunch of different exposure combinations and angles and see what eventually works...but do I remember what worked????). The polarizer might help, however, so I'd try it next time.

As far as the shot goes as a whole, I really like the sharpness. The main flower is stunning and filling the frame really gives it some texture. It's probably good that you didn't center the flower, but I'm not sure putting it on the left worked in this case because the right side of the shot contains a scattering of other flowers that draw my eye away from the subject. The background could be improved by backing up and shooting the flower with a zoom lens/shallow depth of field aperture. A blurry, more painterly background would really capture your subject better. However, if you are going for a 'group' of flowers, with one being the 'highlight', then you could try finding a grouping with flowers that are closer together (sort of blending together or something). Does this make sense??

Otherwise, nice shot and thanks for sharing. Hopefully someone else can speak on the subject of white skies. I'd like to know the answer too!!

[enc]

well i don't know what to say about white sky since i don't know what UV and polarisation filters are for (man, do i need to RTFM ,))

anyhow, i'd make a vertical shot, since flower at the very tom and the flower at lower right are really drawing my attention. so if you'd shoot vertically - you'd get odd number of focused objects (sunflowers) and all background behind them would be blured.

nice shot anyway. i love sunflowers .)

[spazoid1965]

You could try carrying a blue poster board to place behind the flowers.

[SunflowerOcity]

Great sunflower close up. The white sky does not bother me in this shot. It can be avoided by taking flower pictures early in the morning before the sun gets too bright. Please open a gallery at http://SunflowerOcity.com and share your sunflower photos with other sunflower lovers.