Yet another composition question

[Eastree]

Besides (just?) focus (It's a bit tough to focus on all of them when they're staggered) ...

Is one composition better than the other?

My biggest concerns are background elements:

In the first one, the larger one in the background ... is it too distracting? Is the background too light?

I like the darker background of the second one, but the dying flower on the lower left I think may be a bit too distracting. Sure, I could clone it out, but still.

They're the same flowers, from different angles.

Both taken with:
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
ISO: 1600 (I was in very shady woods)

With a Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro @300mm (Macro mode) f5.6 on a Canon 30D

The only edits besides size are white balance and a little lightening.





I can't count on my friends to give me good feedback since they think they're both "gorgeous" images!

[JennyQuinn]

I like the first one just because its easier to tell what exactly we are looking at, the second one is kind of a clutter of petals, I like the darker background in the second one too but I just dont really like that picture for some reason. The first one is a lot more pleasing to the eye. Hope that helps

[peeperita]

compositionally i prefer the first image with the larger out of focus flower in the background

i did take a look through your flickr to study your aperture and lens length......(i just had to know).......and i thought you might be interested in this link to an online depth of field calculator......you might find it an eye opener to see how the different factors in camera affect where and how large your depth of field is.....

peeper

[Eastree]

Thanks, both of you.

It's a bit tough keeping all the settings in mind when I'm in the woods. I'll play around here at home a bit and see what I can put to use.

Thanks, peeperita, for the link to the calculator. According to it, at minimum aperture (f/32) I should get about an inch of depth of field at the lens's minimum focus length. that would mor than cover most of what I've shot!

Eh, well, I'm going to play around a bit at home and see what I can learn.

[plangereis]

I agree witht he others. The first one is stronger compositionally. The branch in the second one is a distraction for me.

[dakwegmo]

Given what you have, I think you're on the right track with the staggered composition of the first shot. The curve created by connecting the dots of the three flowers in line and the one offset create a nice dynamic shot. The petals coming in to the top right corner are distracting to me as is the branch at the bottom.

As for the focus issues, it's difficult to separate composition from focus since the two are linked. If you focus on the top left flower and leave the rest out of focus, you're telling a different story than if you focus on any of the other flowers. With a very shallow depth of field, I would pick one of the flowers to be the main focus of the shot, and let the others go soft.

[daddyoproductions]

The first one is like Plinko for the eyes!