Sunflowers - Sun Followers

[Scott W]

I like the light level and overall composition! You also captured great detail in the flower, nice work.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by Glitterbug576

HOLY COW! This is BEAUTIFUL! Perfection - wow. I love it.

Thanks! Nothing is perfect!

Originally Posted by Krusty79

Great shot, milosh! You have that wonderful glow off the leaves off the sunflowers. I have been trying to get that magical glow in some of my shots, but it has been hard to find a setup like yours.

I agree that the composition might be a little better with the sun to the right a little more. Did you take any shots from a slightly higher perspective? I know we normally recommend getting down lower, but I was thinking a slightly higher perspective would allow me to see more of those golden leaves. Beautiful shot nonetheless. A real winner!

Thanks Krusty! And no, this is the only composition I shot that evening. I had so much trouble finding this one composition that I like, and as the sun was going down fast, I didn't want to search for another one, as I would loose this setup and maybe I wouldn't find another one. The thing is, it was hard to find a suitable sunflower. If it was pretty, it was either too short or too tall, or it had too many or too little sunflowers around it. I wanted to achieve a wide angle effect (at 18mm DX) so I had to get really close. This sunflower is maybe 20cm in diameter and it was 20cm from the lens. Positioning the lens correctly proved to be a tricky task, since every mm changes something. I started shooting this composition and I wanted to take as many shots as I can while light was fading just to make sure I have enough material for successful processing later. I took around 90 frames of this same scene within 45 minutes.

Originally Posted by buzzrk

@Krusty I disagree with using higher angle.
I actually thinking going even lower and increasing the dominance of sun flower. I guess you liked the leaves. For me it is the sunflower that I want to see even more focused.

Great shot! The color and exposure make this shot wonderful.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by buzzrk

You could adjustments using layer masks in Photoshop.
You could do process to sky and sun flower separately and achieve the effect you want.

This was already achieved by using masks and adjustment layers, and as I said in my first post, there are two different exposures, so no need to process one file two times.

Originally Posted by kuul13

I stumbled here as am reading critiques to learn and grow as a photogrpaher.. I am in no position to critique your picture, but I would say I loved the frame very much... bravo!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by mwanafunzi

The center needs to be a bit sharper. Aslo just noticed that on the tips of the two petals that are touching the sky/horizon/mountain there are remants of PP.

Following on Krusty`s question, I too am wondering whether you have any shots of the field from a higher perspective. At least ones that you would like to share.

Yeah, I noticed those halos myself and I fixed them. I will reupload it today. I'll also try to make it a bit sharper.

Originally Posted by ravncat

I keep coming back to this photo...

I'm not sure. I think the main sunflower is not too lit, but there is an odd relationship to the sky. The more I look at it the more I am convinced it is the brightness of the leaves, especially as you go down the frame and where there should be more shadow. I dont think it is a contrast problem so much as a lack of shadows - maybe it is weird to me that the line of trees in the back behind the sun are darker than the rest of the image.

That line also acts as a separator that the eye does not want to really smoothly cross and I jump between the top sunset portion and the lower sunflower portion. I think perhaps increasing the shadows, may improve the image. I'd have to play with it.

Compositionally, I think it's fun, the above comments about it being as if one is turning back from a crowd is right on. I find that it feels out of balance to me and I am not sure why - which makes it interesting to look at perhaps. I feel that maybe a vertical, or more or less below the main sunflower, or slightly more sky space, may have helped, but I wasnt there and haven't seen those compositions. I feel that this image could be improved but I am not entirely sure how - I just have a gut feeling that there could be a better balance, if there isn't than this is it.

Thank you very much for such a detailed review. Your view of the levels of lightness is definitely something new to me, which just proves how much more I have to work in order to create more convincingly looking photos and grasp all aspects of it. There sure is a lot to think about if you want to do it right. I definitely see your point about the leaves being too bright and out of harmony with the shadowed tree line at the horizon. I'll look into it today to see if I can improve it. Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Scott W

I like the light level and overall composition! You also captured great detail in the flower, nice work.

Thanks Scott!

[gjakovare]

Honestly, I think you did a fantastic job. Yes, my eyes do get distracted by the sun and the sunflower, but both views are spectacular. If you were to change the angle so the sun wasn't in dead center, it would throw off the sunflower and wouldn't make such a strong image. I think this is a great example that breaking the rules can make for a great images.

But then again, this is only my opinion : )

[NikD300]

What a great shot and beautiful composition.

Addition: Have you tried orienting the sun right behind the main Sunflower? Would have been wonderful. Just a thought.

[Kkysnoopy]

Wow amazing shot ! I wish Im there to learn photography with you , may I have the permission to download your photo as my wallpaper?

[milosh]

Originally Posted by gjakovare

Honestly, I think you did a fantastic job. Yes, my eyes do get distracted by the sun and the sunflower, but both views are spectacular. If you were to change the angle so the sun wasn't in dead center, it would throw off the sunflower and wouldn't make such a strong image. I think this is a great example that breaking the rules can make for a great images.

But then again, this is only my opinion : )

Thanks!

Originally Posted by NikD300

What a great shot and beautiful composition.

Addition: Have you tried orienting the sun right behind the main Sunflower? Would have been wonderful. Just a thought.

Thanks, and no, this is the only composition I have from this shoot.

Originally Posted by Kkysnoopy

Wow amazing shot ! I wish Im there to learn photography with you , may I have the permission to download your photo as my wallpaper?

Thanks, that's flattering! And since downloading is disabled, that would be something like stealing. But, we'll see what we can do, maybe I can send you one jpeg when I'm finished with it.

[milosh]

OK, here's the second, edited version:


Sun Followers _ DSC_4312_1024_II by Milos Kondic, on Flickr

and the first one:


Sun Followers by Milos Kondic, on Flickr

The leaves are darkened, the small halos removed and it's a tad sharper. Darkening the leaves really helped. Their brightness was creating a low contrast with the brightness of the sunflower, and now it's much more accentuated. This may not be visible on this small size, but it is when viewed larger.

Thanks everyone!

[rkolasa]

The detail is nice, and I like that the sun isn't overexposed. It all goes together really well. It's interesting how the one sunflower has it's own sort of personality. It's fun. Nice shot (: