Absolute Beginner: Clichéd Flower Shot

[seayeo]

I want to move beyond just waving a camera in vaguely the correct direction and pushing the button. So I thought I would start with something that doesn't move and didn't mind keeping the same pose for a couple minutes. No post processing except for resizing in Photoshop Elements. I'd like to learn how to take better pictures before I start playing with post processing, apart from cropping for composition.

Any and all comments and critique's appreciated.

Now I'm off to continue reading the forums and tips. Hopefully I'll get some nice shots on my New York vacation next week.

Sean

Canon A710. Macro, ISO 80, no EV compensation, white balance set to "cloudy", Exposure 1/200, Aperture f/4.8,

[ashwinvissa]

Hi Seayeo,

I'm pretty new here myself but I'll put in my two cents! First off, nice shot! I like the depth of field! I struggled with that in the beginning (and still do!). Like how the droplets of water are sharp! As far as composition goes, maybe you could have gotten in a little closer although thats a lot easier said than done. Maybe you could crop it a bit tighter, getting rid of the out-of-focus yellow patch at the bottom of the frame which detracts from the image. There are some very informative threads in here about composition and if I'm not mistaken, about shooting flowers as well. Hope you get some nice shots on your travels and that you share your pics with us! Happy clicking!

Ashwin

[Saralonde]

Welcome Seayeo! Tis the season for daylilies! This is very nice, well focused with the waterdrops for added interest. You might like to crop off the bottom yellow as it really doesn't add anything to the image. And if you cropped a little off the left side, you'd have a shot of a daylily and bud that's closer to the rule of three.
Looking forward to seeing some NYC pics. Lots to shoot there!

[seayeo]

Thanks for the cropping suggestions Ashwin and Saralonde. Since I posted this morning I've read as much as I had time to on the site about composition. (When my 4 month old son was taking a nap.) I have also figured out how to turn on the grid on my camera's LCD, which should help a lot in future.

This is my attempt at a crop:


I've already bookmarked a project for myself to learn how to remove the dead leaf in the bottom right corner.

Thanks again for the advice!

Sean

[ashwinvissa]

Hi Sean,
Much better! And that is a good project to bookmark for yourself! Hope to see more of your images here!