first macro attempt

[annie]

This is my first time experimenting with my camera's macro settings, and also with using photoshop to clone out imperfections. How did I do? Suggestions for improvement?

[RexK_Cozumel]

I like this shot.. only thing I would do different is try to fill the frame even more with the yellow portion of the flower. there is too much pink petals IMO. but it looks good as is.

[jjohnsen]

I really like it how it is. The yellow is so brilliant that it stands out even though it's a small part of the composition. What lens did you use?

[matthewchj]

Nice! I like the way you filled the frame with the petals. The sharpness looks good, but I think that the flower could be a little brighter.

[PLouie]

It looks good with this simple composition. I'll agree with the tighter crop as others have said. Another thing that could improve it is a saturation boost. Also, I'm not sure if it's just me but it looks a little underexposed. If it is then you could fix that easily.

[annie]

Thanks for the helpful feedback. Here's another edit taking people's comments into account. I cropped it, made it brighter, and boosted the saturation a bit (though looking at it again, I could have maybe boosted it a bit more). Not sure if I like the crop better, and not sure if I trust my eye on the exposure. Any opinions?



Jjohnsen, this was taken with just my Canon S3IS point and shoot, so nothing special in terms of lenses. One day I'll graduate to a DSLR, but in the meantime this is a great camera for learning.

[Palachandra]

Lovely shot! Love the symmetry, also I am curious to see a different crop, may be placing the Yellow portion in one of intersecting point of thirds...

[wulf]

I think the crop is better - taking a look at the original on Flickr, I think you could even afford to go in a bit closer still.

You could also bump up the contrast a bit more. One way to do this is to create a duplicate layer, set it into "overlay" mode and then reduce the opacity to get the desired level of effect. By using the image itself as an overlay, the colours become richer and stronger. You can also apply some blur to the overlay - especially if you keep that layer quite translucent, the effect is a subtle soft focus that can be very flattering (but help to disguise the noise that is apparent on viewing the full sized image).

Wulf

[annie]

Wulf, that sounds out of my Photoshop league. But your nice, detailed instructions give me the confidence to fiddle with it and see what I come up with. Will post the results if I come out with anything I like.

[akshatrathi294]

Nice pic!
I think with the yellow a little off-centred would also make a good composition.