First Ever Flower Photo

[AcadieLibre]

Well here it is in all its glory my first ever flower photo. My daughter was out taking photos of my wife's garden and as we were looking at them I made mention to her I don't ever recall in my entire life taking a photo of a flower just for the flower. The only ones I have ever taken are ones that just happen to be in the scenery or background. So have fun and give me any pointers you think I need. I may post one or two more after I have another look at them. This was the first one on the camera so why I am posting it, so you can all share in my lame attempt at photographing flowers, as I am sure it may be my last time too lol. Not something I ever strived to try before but since my daughter made fun of me I had to step up and take the challenge lol. Hers fare far better than mine, but being a teen girl her two favourite subjects are herself and flowers.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/2617707703_154b45f6cc.jpg

[AcadieLibre]

Ok here are the other 3 I took, this is context is my entire flower photography experience. I think it will be a short lived experience, but have fun and lets see how NOT to take photos of flowers lol....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2617751467_8c0704e67f.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3091/2618575092_64cdbe0b9b.jpg


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3010/2618575298_4b9b3b8ccc.jpg

Well this is the end, four camera clicks, four photo of flowers, I will now retire from flower photos, it was an exciting fun ride but I must move on to things I actually enjoy photographing lol ......

[Marko]

I think this is a very good attempt Acadielibre and i like this shot (I'm referring to the first post in this thread).

The 'somewhat' distracting elements for me are the green leaves in the top part of the photo (above and behind the closed flower) and i think I would tone them down just a bit. The red in the flowers may be a bit oversaturated as well.

The green 'circular' leaf at the top left actually looks like it could be the moon (or sun actually) in a nightscape if you made it more yellow and that might be a creative thing to try just for fun.

Hope that helps!
Marko

[tegan]

Flower shooting is good for working on some of the basics, whether one is keen on flowers or not. The problems here are correctable in technique.

Avoid shadows that cut up your main subject and distract the viewer's eye. Solutions include having an assistant holding the plants causing the shadows out of the way, using a reflector or minimal fill flash, or chosing a different time of day.

Two flowers is too balanced with no centre of interest. Try for three plants.

Focus carefully and be aware of plant movement caused by breezes which soften focus such as on the yellow one.

Also in the yellow one, the edge of the frame is important and anything that is too close or cut off in that area will look even worse in any print.

Postprocessing is always necessary. Some small distractions can be easily cloned out and some of the shadows can be made less serious a distraction.

The most difficult challenge is getting the right amount of saturation but not too much and with it loss of fine detail.

Tegan

[AcadieLibre]

Well thank you, good points and very helpful. My Aperture was too open I think was the biggest issue. I was trying to much to get a good bokeh. If I ever get around to re-shooting them I will post and see if there is any improvement. Won't be happening today, a down pour all morning and I was supposed to out shooting some events for the Pride Weekend but oh well gives me time to post and get caught up on some reading.