Flower

[rmeglath]

This is a picture I recently took of a flower in my backyard. It's a white flower so it was hard not to be overexposed. I took something like 20 pictures but I think this is the best one. I did a little post-processing with Photoshop elements. I'd like to see if anyone has any constructive criticism. I'm still pretty new to this and I've been having a little trouble with good composition, so any suggestions of how I could have made this more interesting would be appreciated. Also, if anyone thinks I should have cropped it differently...

My camera is a Nikon D90
Lens: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm
F-stop: f/5.3
Exposure: 1/2000
ISO: 200
Focal length: 75mm
Exposure compensation: -5.0

[franky]

Hi, it's a nice shot you have!
About the lightning, you could have put a lower ISO, like 100, and close your aperture a bit. But, about your aperture, the problem would have been your depth of field if you had closed it... The focus seems to be a the right place. About the composition, I think there is too much green leaves around your flower. If the flower is the main subject, maybe it would be nice to crop it. You have followed the rule of third witch is good.
This is only my thought,
Keep shooting and have a nice day!

[jiminyClickit]

Hi, rmeglath. Welcome to DPS

One thing helps me with plant composition: when there's a bloom, think of it as the face of the plant, and shoot as you would when doing a person's portrait. It can be a 3/4 view, a closeup, a backlit shot, whatever, think of it as a head with a face and compose accordingly.

So I would have raised the bloom to about the halfway point, and since it's facing right, I'd leave space on the right (crop the left) for the "face" to gaze into. Here's one way:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/...f4a63179_m.jpg

What I question is, at 1/2000sec., the bloom should be sharp enough to cut my eye, but it's not. Are you using a tripod? Autofocus?

[rmeglath]

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

Hi, rmeglath. Welcome to DPS

One thing helps me with plant composition: when there's a bloom, think of it as the face of the plant, and shoot as you would when doing a person's portrait. It can be a 3/4 view, a closeup, a backlit shot, whatever, think of it as a head with a face and compose accordingly.

So I would have raised the bloom to about the halfway point, and since it's facing right, I'd leave space on the right (crop the left) for the "face" to gaze into. Here's one way:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/...f4a63179_m.jpg

What I question is, at 1/2000sec., the bloom should be sharp enough to cut my eye, but it's not. Are you using a tripod? Autofocus?

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll keep that (face thing) in mind when I shoot more flowers (being spring I have been shooting a LOT of flowers). I was using autofocus on that one I believe. I did use the magic lasso in photoshop and darkened the features of the flower. Perhaps that cut some of the sharpness. I took quite a few shots so I'm not sure exactly how I got that one.

Thanks,
Ryan

[jiminyClickit]

That's the way to figure all those things out - take as many shots as you need to, and when possible, keep track of what gives you best results. I don't take notes, but when I see a particularly good shot, I check my EXIF and try more shots like it. Repetition is good for learning, as long as you repeat successful things.

Have a great Spring . . .