Critique please (Dandelion head)

[purplesquid]

Quite new to photography,but love other peoples macro work and thought I would give it a shot. Thoughts? How to improve?

Thanks
Craig

[bruceliv]

Craig,

New, you say? You have a fantastic eye!!! I love this shot and many of your images on flickr.

I'm curious which 180mm lens you used for this shot.

It appears that you got into your subject, had a vision, and nailed the shot. The only thing I might have avoided is some of the over-blown highlights. Others may think differently because it does help with the mood. Also, a square crop may work.

My main suggestion is, "do more!!!"

[spazoid1965]

I like it. The overexposed area doesn't bother me at all. It adds softness to lighta areas. The compasition looks great to me.

[NgaiHill]

Nice shot! Whatever you're doing, keep doing it! The DOF and composition are good although I do find the overexposed spot just high right of the centre a little distracting. But great for starters, keep it up!

[carlyfan]

This is stunning! I love it!

[Photologyst]

Superb!

Don't change a thing.

I need that macro lens!

[purplesquid]

Oops....sorry!! Like a git, I posted that photo exactly how the rules state NOT to post on this forum. Won't happen again. How do I put the EXIF data in the post BTW?
Thank you for the comments...while I don't really mind the over exposed areas,what can I do about them? Its the out of focus seed fluff at the top of the stalk.I really would be interested in what would improve that area.
bruceliv; Its a Sigma lens

[bruceliv]

On second thought, don't do a thing. The image is truly wonderful!

Just checking:
1. Take all photos in camera RAW. This way you don't loose any information.
2. Bracket photos.
3. Take at different apertures and focal points.
4. Check curves and try not to have a spike on right hand edge of graph.
This may lead to a predominance of slightly under-exposing your photos. That's OK, because it's easier to bring in shadow detail than recover lost highlight detail in post-processing.

Here's the point. In digital photography, film is free! When you spend a fortune traveling to get to the venue, and the light is just right, it makes sense to take many exposures to bring home the perfect shot. You can't make final judgements until you see it on screen and/or printed. If the scene/subject is just right, you don't want to miss it!

Then, there's the post-processing part. You need software that can read your camera RAW (nef) files. And there you learn to adjust curves, constrain highlights, tune midtones, bring in shadows, etc...

Craig: take pictures, more and more, go for it...

BTW, when you click on your image and view it on flickr, you then click camera in upper right, and voila!

[BritneyN_0518]

This is simply stunning! I love everything about it and wouldn't change a thing. For this specific picture the exposure, crop, it all works very nice. I could see this picture hanging on my wall, it would go perfect in my living room! ;-)