A rose in a drop of water

[flavio]

I took this picture in a late afternoon, for the soft light effect. I used a tripod and got as close as I could to the drop of water. While setting everythin up I got the lens wet a couple of times (clumsy me). I know the picture breaks with the "rule of thirds" but still...
Any critiques, ideas or suggestions for improvement are welcome.
Thanks in advance.



EXIF data:

Camera: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Exposure: 1
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 6 mm
Exposure: +0.19
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

[jiminyClickit]

flavio, Welcome

Late afternoon - good. Early morning is also good.

Tripod - also good, and closer (or a crop) might have given you a better effect. A bigger drop is usually more interesting.

Centered can work if your subject fills the frame. The background draws a lot of attention, while not really adding to the effect of the image in the water drop. We know what's there, so you can include just a little bit in the composition.

If that's an eyedropper, I'd switch to something natural - thorny twig, leaf - to make it less distracting.

Now: Why a 60-second exposure?

[flavio]

Thanks for the comments. It feels like I can follow up with you on our previous family discussion about that shot.

We decided that the message of the picture is about how things look different when perceived differently and how evasive "reality" is , particularly to our five senses. So we though we should show the whole rose in the background and its refractive counterpart within the drop of water. I can always crop the original further down (I'll actually do that, cause I'm curious to see how it looks like) Thanks for the suggestion.

Now to the more technical issues. The glassy thingy belongs to a separatory funnel (is a piece of glassware used by organic chemists to separate non-miscible solutions).
I tried different shutters and 60s was the one that looked best (!?), under the circumstances. When not "creating" or trying to "save" a bad shot I ussually try to get an original that requires minimal post-processing. Could you comment on that?

Finally, I'm not a morning person but I guess the effort of getting up at dawn might be rewarded with beautiful shots. I'll try that sometime.

[jiminyClickit]

flavio, yes, the intent can change the comments of viewers, and your intent is what matters. With the discussion included, the whole rose has a purpose to it. Thanks for adding it.

The shutter speed that works is the one to use. Like the cropping, I go almost entirely for that which "looks best . . . under the circumstances." SOOC has no special meaning to me - it doesn't usually get published or explained in normal real-life viewing, and is more of a personal accomplishment/joy/point of pride. So being a graphic artist gives me as much interest in the saving of an image as getting something perfect first time every time, which is an exercise in frustration (things move, light changes, life moves on).

Light is filtered morning and evening through that layer of crud in our air, so evening is fine too. I like morning for the dew on plants, and the sleepy insects. And I'm usually still up from a night of DPS. Hope you'll keep interested in the experimenting, and thanks for the insight into how this image came to be.