First post. I am looking to increase my skills overall. I am open to any comments you great people may find helpful.
1. Fireball lily
2. Bull elephant tooth
3. Lobelia
First post. I am looking to increase my skills overall. I am open to any comments you great people may find helpful.
1. Fireball lily
2. Bull elephant tooth
3. Lobelia
Pretty good start, Kevin!
The first is well composed, and shows the flowers well. If you focussed carefully, but shot wide open at f/1.8 or nearly (I'd bracket apertures) the background would be blurrier and less distracting. Also, while I'm not a fan of overblown colours, these spectacular blooms look just a little washed-out. I'd consider boosting saturation at least. In the edit, I've lightened the shadows, then applied an S shape in "Curves" to increase mid-tone contrast, increased orange and cut back green, and added a vignette to try to highlight the stars of the show. The orange is beginning to block up, but it might give you the general idea of what I'm on about.
Shooting with a polariser can reduce surface glare and yield more vivid colours, especially with plants.
In the second, you could've stopped right down, and perhaps shot from higher up to help depth of field. A wider lens would give more DOF - your lens is a bit long for this kind of shot. Also, I'd have the tooth at more of a diagonal to enliven the composition.
In the last image, swinging the camera up and right to ditch some of the dead stuff left and bottom, and not crop the top of the lobelia would help. Also, stopping down a little might help keep more in focus, but again I'd bracket as that might not look any better, and the background would be sharper as well, and more distracting.
Thanks Chris. I’ll try your suggestions on the processing of the lily. I did have a polarizer in these shots, I typically shoot with one on when I’m outdoors as I photograph fishing a bit. I am experimenting in Lightroom a lot and I’m realizing how critical the post is changing a cool shot to an awesome shot.
I find it difficult to shoot quickly and effectively. Many times I rush my shots, I really need to bracket more.
Agreed on the lobelia. When I took that shot, this plant was the only living thing within 100m. I wanted to show that, but came a little short.
Thanks for the insight.
Hi Kevin! Welcome! It is always nice to have new people here. You have found some interesting things to shoot too. I lived in a desert for many years and the forms there can be hard to find but really interesting when you do.
Chris has given you excellent technical advice. I'd like to share some composition thoughts.
The first is this. I would suggest not centering your subject and tight cropping around it to this extent. Setting your subject off the center line and giving it some breathing room can bring life into what otherwise could look like a text book photograph (ie "this is a ____"). Also, including some of the subject's surroundings can add interest to its story. Like you mentioned about the plant which was alone among the rock in the desert - cool story if you could see that!
The second suggestion is sort of the opposite. After you take these "whole item" shots, take another look at the subject and ask "what EXACTLY did i think was so cool about this thing?" and then take only that. You would be looking for the essence of what caught your eye to begin with and get just that in the image. Here's what i mean. In the first image, the spray of flowers is really cool. Get closer and take a shot of just that part. In the second, lay down on your stomach and shoot straight across the top of the tooth and catch all the cool ridges as an abstract. And on the last one, the layers of leaves would make a very intetesting depth of field / abstract image.
I think that you saw something interesting in each of these subjects but i dont think these images captured those nuggests.
All that said, i think you are off to a great start and look foward to more from you! I hope these thoughts help! They are given with that hope.
PS - Here's just an idea for the last two. Keep in mind that I'm the moderator of the Minimalism, Abstract & Beyond group so i love this style. :)
Thanks Ruth. I like your editing of those two. I enjoy close up views that aren’t quite macro as well. I would like to get more pictures into the 3 and 4 category of the CTC videos I watch on this site. Maybe I’ll start posting more on this site to get real criticism.
I'd encourage you to both post and comment. Critiquing others can help you hone your eye for your own work. I know it helps me think more before I shoot. If you do do some more close up / abstracty type stuff, please join M, A&B. Even if you don't post, it would be nice to have you join. The works there can be very different!
PS - Nice waterfall. Get ready - there are a lot of good waterfall photographers here!