Dew Drops on Pink Flower

[basfords]

New here. Trying to be sure I do things correctly. I think the link will have EXIF info.

This was taken with my Canon 30D and 100mm macro lens. Hand held.

Is the photo over exposed?
What could I have done better?
Could I do something post production?

Thank you,

Sean

[Nicole Hanna]

I guess it depends on your personal tastes. For me, this looks over-exposed. Don't get me wrong, I like over-exposed images, probably more than most, but in this case there doesn't seem to be a consistency in the either the composition or the lighting. Say, for instance, you cropped out the upper right corner, which is darker... then the excessive brightness wouldn't be as noticeable and might even accent the water droplets, but then you risk losing some of the droplets in the cropping. Did you use a flash? It looks like you did. I would suggest bouncing the flash off a wall or the ceiling (if you don't have some sort of reflector to use), though I'm not great at this myself. But the droplets are very crisp and clear, and I love the depth of field range. Very nice over all.

[basfords]

Thank you for the reply.

I agree it might be nice to crop out the darkness in the top right corner. Not sure if I can do that, but I will look at it.

I will try to reduce the exposure and see how that looks as well.

Yes the flash did fire. I just used the cameras flash. I will have to try the flash off the wall with a reflector.

Thank you,

Sean

[chicagojohn]

Originally Posted by basfords

New here. Trying to be sure I do things correctly. I think the link will have EXIF info.

This was taken with my Canon 30D and 100mm macro lens. Hand held.

Is the photo over exposed?
What could I have done better?
Could I do something post production?

Thank you,

Sean

In this section of the forum, you should state your EXIF data explicitly, Sean.

This image is clearly not "over exposed". What that term means to me is that if you were to look at a histogram, you would find significant clipped highlights. That is clearly not the case here. I'm not sure how anyone would think this image is over exposed.

The subjects here, I think, are the water droplets. They are in very sharp focus, and they are a study of how liquid water bends light in refraction.

I think this is a very attractive image given the brilliant red color and sharpness of the water droplets. Definitely nowhere near overexposed, though.

Next time please list your EXIF data. That would help us learn more from your work.

[Nicole Hanna]

Ahem. Too bright for my tastes then (given that a flash was used). lol I hope my ignorance will be excused on occasion, and I apologize for improperly implying the photo was over-exposed. I'm lucky I know what the aperture is, and I still have no idea how to read and understand a histogram, so it's a miracle I get along as well as I do. This forum definitely encourages me to push myself towards a more thorough understanding of the mechanics of photography. At this point, I fiddle until a picture turns out nice. Luck, in other words.

[photog1107]

Nicole, I understand entirely where you are coming from. "Luck", over many years of practice, hopefully blossums into talent. At least that is the theory I am operating under, as I shoot, shoot, shoot...read, read, read...revise, shoot, and start all over again. Besides, there is nothing I'd rather do with my time.

Personally, I think this is a phenomenal shot, given that it's hand held. Hats off to the steady hands that accomplished that! Nice job.

[basfords]

Wow,

Thank you all for the feedback. Greatly appreciated.

I apologize for not including the EXIF information. I will from now on. Need to figure out the best way to list that information. I will edit the first message with what I have.

Sean Basford

[basfords]

My EXIF information:

Date Jun 14, 2010 12:54:04 PM
Width 1600
Height 1282
File Size 159971
Camera Canon
Model Canon EOS 30D
ISO 100
Exposure 1/125 sec
Aperture 16.0
Focal Length 100mm
Flash Used true
White Balance 0
Metering Mode 5
Exposure Program 1
CCD Width 10.264383
Exposure Bias 0.0
Focal Plane X-Resolution 3959.322
Focal Plane Resolution Unit 2.0
Date and Time (Original) 2010:06:14 19:54:04
Color Space 255
X-Resolution 72.0
Y-Resolution 72.0
Resolution Unit 2
Software picnik.com
Date and Time 2010:06:14 19:54:04
YCbCr Positioning 1
Date and Time (Digitized) 2010:06:14 19:54:04
Custom Rendered 0
Exposure Mode 1
Focal Length (in 35mm film) 351
Scene Capture Type 0


Sean Basford

[chicagojohn]

Originally Posted by basfords

My EXIF information:

Model Canon EOS 30D
ISO 100
Exposure 1/125 sec
Aperture 16.0
Focal Length 100mm
Flash Used true
White Balance 0

Sean Basford: I think the above would be helpful in the future. Along with whether you were using a tripod or hand held, and if you were using lights, how they were placed. Stuff like that that would help us understand what we are seeing.

[basfords]

Thank you.

I will include this information in the future.

Nice to have people looking at my photo's.

Sean