To Grahame : Dogwood tree flower and my first iris bloom

[IzzieK]

Apart from #1, which is the correction from the other post which I have to straightened, here are my shots this morning of some flowers...C&C most welcome...

1. Dogwood at the front of house....I did not reshoot this one. I just worked on my original psd file.


2. Dogwood flower...1 -- contrast colour range



3. Another look


4. Centered...



5. Different perspective



Hope you like all of these...C&C welcome...thank you...

[Stagecoach]

Hi Izzie,

Good to see you are sticking at it and this practice is sure going to help for when that 'macro' arrives

No 2 - I think this one loses out because our eyes are naturally going to want to see at least one flower centre (the yellow bits) in focus and neither is here. You have got focus on a plane that's not really significant within the image. The speed was 1/50s, a bit low if hand holding but you managed it with this one

No 3 - Camera shake = Recycle Bin

No 4 - GOOD focus and the DoF has worked well, I'll forgive the loss of petal detail as we are concentrating on getting things in focus and sharp where we want it at the moment

No 5 - GOODER, but what have you done with that PP on the left edge of the petal

Taking No's 4 & 5 they both show you have put some effort into compositions, both can take further PP (if wanted) and you are progressing well.

Well done

Grahame

[Brownbear]

+1 to all of Grahame's comments...

Personally I love the composition of 4 & 5, especially #4 f(absolutely lovely!)

[Wavelength]

The first image is very nice with its off-inviting colors; #4 is very well done and #5 is differently but nicely composed
Regards

[Barbara Ponder]

Oh Izzie #4 is just beautiful! #5 is nice as well but for me it's #4

[bnnrcn]

Hi Isabel, I really like #4 and #5 #1 looks a bit underexposed and I can still see some brown-yellow color cast. I played with the white balance , brightness and contrast a bit but I really don't know if my edit shows the real colors of your surroundings. So, it is an edit just to give you an idea, you can do better than me as you know the real colors anyway. I would also clone the carton boxes in the image. I touched the image without asking you, so if you don't like ,please let me know, I will remove it ( For WB correction, I increased the cyan and the blue in the color balance adjustment layer in PS )

[Rebel]

Izzie, the dogwood flower macros are excellent! #5 is my favourite

[JohnRostron]

I think that #3 shows the flower nicely in context. A pity it is not properly focussed. #4 is the best, showing great detail.

By the way, what happened to your 'my first iris bloom' in the title?

John

[IzzieK]

I thought I will include the flower there because it is the first and only iris that we have of that variety, then I thought Grahame said they do not have any dogwood flower tree in his part of the pond yonder, so I delete the flower and forgot to delete that part of the title...

#3 -- I thought I had uploaded the proper file without the shake one...apparently not...

Thank you for your feedback...so many files to edit yet just for my keepiing pleasure as usual...'appreciate your time...

I think that #3 shows the flower nicely in context. A pity it is not properly focussed. #4 is the best, showing great detail.

By the way, what happened to your 'my first iris bloom' in the title?

John

[IzzieK]

Izzie, the dogwood flower macros are excellent! #5 is my favourite

Mine, too Matt -- I saw that style of shooting the other day and I thought, why not? I did many tries and ended up removing one flower off the branch and positioning it on top of one of the bushes to get the shot...

[IzzieK]

Very nice rendition, Binnur -- no worries about any of your editing...it is more beautiful than the actual house. The roof is reddish here. The leaf carton sorry I will not clone out...not that I did not try. That structure behind is part of my front door and it is not plain at all. I only uploaded this shot as an overview of where the tree is actually located and how tall and wide it is really occupying the front. I know that leaf bag will create comments, funny or not and I should had removed it first but it was too full to move so I only cut off Roxie from the frame at the left in the shot and that part of our garage at the right. I could have removed that secateur off the base of the planter there and those three mounds of whatever plant it is because it looks rubbishy...there are a lot to removed in this shot so I decided to make it a "working area of Bill" shot.

Thank you for the edit. It is beautifully done. And thank you for your patience with me.

Hi Isabel, I really like #4 and #5 #1 looks a bit underexposed and I can still see some brown-yellow color cast. I played with the white balance , brightness and contrast a bit but I really don't know if my edit shows the real colors of your surroundings. So, it is an edit just to give you an idea, you can do better than me as you know the real colors anyway. I would also clone the carton boxes in the image. I touched the image without asking you, so if you don't like ,please let me know, I will remove it ( For WB correction, I increased the cyan and the blue in the color balance adjustment layer in PS )

[IzzieK]

Thank you for viewing and commenting and the feedbacks everyone -- and also to Christina, Nandakumar and Barbara...

'Appreciate your preferences and thoughts...

[IzzieK]

Hi Izzie,

Good to see you are sticking at it and this practice is sure going to help for when that 'macro' arrives

Thank you too for nudging to take photographs again...I was really out of the loop for a while as far as other genres in photography are concerned and now you inspired me to move to other areas of this precious and expensive hobby. ... I am enjoying taking images again...

No 2 - I think this one loses out because our eyes are naturally going to want to see at least one flower centre (the yellow bits) in focus and neither is here. You have got focus on a plane that's not really significant within the image. The speed was 1/50s, a bit low if hand holding but you managed it with this one

I was trying that #5 shot effect while the flower was still connected to the tree. Legs too short...Lazy to get the ladder inside the door..tippy toe-ing is dangerous...that's concrete down where I was...

No 3 - Camera shake = Recycle Bin

Just wrong image uploaded. I should had binned anything in my file before I upload or at least take physical note of what I should have before going to the forum...

No 4 - GOOD focus and the DoF has worked well, I'll forgive the loss of petal detail as we are concentrating on getting things in focus and sharp where we want it at the moment

Yes. I think I left my metering to Highlight spot...I will change it to matrix when I go downstairs and widely awake...

No 5 - GOODER, but what have you done with that PP on the left edge of the petal

Man o man! You have got sharp eyes catching that little mistake...it was worst before the edit that I have to cut off part of the area that folded downwards...I put too much work in this one you know...all right...I will do some more blurring...

Taking No's 4 & 5 they both show you have put some effort into compositions, both can take further PP (if wanted) and you are progressing well.

Well done

Grahame[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much for your help and guidance. I couldn't have done this without any help...I'd be better prepared for my insec--to-graphy soon...I saw a wasp yesterday but I didn't have my camera. When I have my camera, he's not there. Dumb wasp!

(And oh...I have Bill trying to catch a bee for me from the dogwood tree and he saw a bigger bug on top of his son's car. By the time he got to it, it flew away)...so no bugs yet...I think I have more practicing to do before I can get there...and that reminds me, I still have a little spider in the fridge...