Protea

[Penny]

My apologies to those folk who are bored by endless streams of flower pictures! I am besotted with photographing them at present - doesn't feel as if it will end soon! I would appreciate your views on this shot.

[jiminyClickit]

Penny,

Who, bored? Never! If it's like here, seems a different color/species/type of plant/bud/bloom shows up every few days. Keeping ahead of them is a job, and if that's what you've got, that's what you post.

I have an affinity for this one, even though many of your others have more "entertaining" centers, the shapes and colors intricate and more vibrant. Nature saw fit to make this one look like ground beef. And you got that, with some backlit area there? Well shot.

[wulf]

On a black background like this, I think it is calling out to be a little sharper. There might be limits on what you can achieve with your camera but I think at least one of the others in your set has come out crisper.

Also, while I'm often a fan of square pictures, I wonder if a portrait orientated crop might work better for the shape of this? Did you try some different options when working on the picture?

Wulf

[clockdoc]

Penny, please tell us about the technique you used to get to this point. Was it done with software in post processing or by using Jiminy's black bucket method? IMHO, there is a little too much black surrounding the flower. Considering the color, pattern and focus, it may work better as a closely cropped abstract.

[purplepixie]

Hi Penny

Agree with the experts comments on the photo, but like the strong colours. I'm also from Cape Town - so hi there Aren't the flowers just AMAZING at the moment after the rain. I cross Ou Kaaps every day and wow Enjoy capturing them and looking forward to seeing more.

[Penny]

Thank you all for taking the time to look at and respond to my picture.

Jiminy - Thanks for the encouragement! I will never look at a protea again without thinking "ground beef"!!

Wulf - That was one of the reasons I laid myself bare (so to speak) here - I was having DOF issues with the camera set to Auto (surprise!) and Macro. I was hoping someone might suggest (Gasp!!!) manual settings better suited to this. - The camera is capable of going fully manual - I am not. These blooms are about 14cm long and 7cm across. I chose the square crop because the image is essentially round?

Clockdoc - I had the bloom inside an open door, standing on and in front of black paper. Used only natural available light. Have played with tighter crop/abstract - see below!!!!

Purplepixie - Have noted your location a while ago and been watching and enjoying your work very much indeed. The flowers ARE wonderful at present - when are they not????

These are the results of some playing around

A tight crop



Inverting the colour



And posterizing



Thanks to you all for your input

[wulf]

I like the first close-cropped one, although sharpness is still an issue.

In full manual, and assuming there is no breeze creating movement (and the camera is on a tripod or otherwise secure), I would use the lowest available ISO setting (to avoid any hint of "noise"), a medium aperture (f/8?, f/11? - cameras tend to be sharpest round about here and it will give you a reasonable depth of field as well) and then slow the shutter down enough to capture a good exposure.

That is likely to yield a sharp image with rich colours and plenty of subtlety... assuming of course that you can get the focal point in the right place!

However, if it is a captive subject, then the best route is to experiment - for example, once you have got the picture sorted out as above, try opening the aperture (smaller numbers) a step at a time, speeding up the shutter speed to compensate and maintain the same exposure (or close the aperture further and slow the shutter down). Take a series of shots, either noting the settings or (easier) relying on the EXIF data, and then you can decide on the optimal combination. Or try adjusting the ISO setting and balancing with one of the other two instead; sometimes a bit of "noise" can actually create the illusion of greater sharpness.

Wulf

[Penny]

Thank you very much Wulf - will give it a go!!

[purplepixie]

Purplepixie - Have noted your location a while ago and been watching and enjoying your work very much indeed. The flowers ARE wonderful at present - when are they not????

Tx Penny - I like the cropped version

[thistledo]

Penny, love the first crop you did, gorgeous natural colours and love how translucent the petals are, really well captured. Thought the centre looked more like a chococlate whirl, mind you next time i see a choclate whril i'll think mince meat, LOL!