Something I liked

[AshishY]

Hello,

Like many others here I am also a beginner. Here is my first close up photograph.
Camera Maker - Sony
Model - DSCHx100v
F-Stop - f/3.2
Exp-Time - 1/500 sec
ISO - 100
Exposure Bias - 0
Focal length - 5mm
Max aperture - 3
Flash - No

looking forward to where I did good and where I went wrong and what can I learn and improve

From October 4, 2011

[windrider86]

Please take a quick peek at the rules/guidelines for the critique section to see what info should be included.

[AshishY]

Originally Posted by windrider86

Please take a quick peek at the rules/guidelines for the critique section to see what info should be included.

Am I missing something?

[NgaiHill]

Hi AshishY, I think what windrider means there is do you have a specific question or an aspect of photography involving this photograph that you want help with. You'll find you get better responses if you can be specific with your question - it shows you have given some thought to you shot as well, instead of just throwing it out there.

As for your photo - I like the shot. Composition wise it could do with being a little off centre, its more aesthetically pleasing to have the subject off centre rather than head on. In this case because of the stem and leaves to the right I would crop some off the left hand side of the photo and possibly the top. Google "Rule of Thirds" to see what I mean.
You have good depth of field - the front flower in focus and the rest not. This helps isolate the subject and make it stand out.
Do you have any editing software? A tweak of the saturation levels would help bring up the richness of colours to this flower.
Thats about it, nice shot, keeping shooting.
Cheers

[AshishY]

Thanks a lot Lisa for you comments. And especially for the "Rule of the Thirds" I did not know about it . I am learning GIMP for photo editing and I will try how well can I implement the changes you've suggested.
And in this photo I wanted to know whether this pic can be considered as a close up or macro and what are the things I should have done better when I say its a macro or close up.
Again thank you for your comments I really felt good to see someone has replied.

Thanks

[AshishY]

After some editing as suggested by LISA

[EGsimi]

after some editing that really is a whole new shot... I think with the changes that Lisa suggested really takes it to a higher level. It now feels much more bright and cheerful.

the DoF is very good and the detail of the bloom is nicely captured.

as an experiment you could try bringing up the contrast a bit and maybe up the blacks a tad (not sure if GIMP does this well), it might make it more dramatic however this I think would downplay the light and airy feel of the shot which is very much part of its charm I think.

[NgaiHill]

Very nice, a big improvement. Can you see how this has made the flower standout more in the shot? It is now very definitely the subject of the photo with the OOF flower and the greenery complementary to it. The tweaking of the saturation has made the colours more dramatic too.
As for macro vs close up - I think what you have here is technically a close-up. Macro is defined as being 1:1 object:sensor so close-up is a more accurate description although both terms seem to be used interchangeably these days.
A free tip on flower close ups - remember to look for imperfections on the flower, if you are going to take a close up of an object you want it to be a perfect specimen!

[AshishY]

Thank you EGsimi, I tried to increase the contrast a bit and to some extend it was looking good (till +10) but after that it started to lose its naturalness. Thanks for your comments though

@Lisa Thanks for the close ups suggestion. I will keep that in mind. Though I wonder, "Is it always necessary to tweak a photo in order to make it look good?". I mean can we just not capture it near to perfect? I think may be not