First Timer

[rufusisnodufus]

Hey,

I'm new to the site, a friend of mine sent me here for the tutorials. I recently took up taking pictures with my slr a few months ago and decided to spend my tax refund on the upgrade to digital. Anyway, I just wanted to post a photo and see what you guys thought. Criticism is appreciated.

[tirediron]

Nice composition, however the image looks a little under-exposed (I would say brighten 1/2 - 1 stop) and desaturated. Selective focus is definitely something you want to use, but in this case having the closest flower out of focus is a little distracting. All of that aside, a nice image with lots of potential - keep working.

[taken]

i agree the closest flower in the frame should have been focussed

[ajith.rajeswari]

I agree with "Taken", I prefer the closest one to be on focus....now it acts a bit like a distraction ..
I tried a similar shot (just to give my point of view :-) )

[shreds]

I would have set the aperture to a smaller setting (higher f number) to achieve a greater depth of field, utilising hyperfocal bonus.

However you often still want to throw the background slightly out of focus which therefore creates a compromise.

Always an issue with flowers when there is a group, so increasing / improving the lighting conditions, sometimes artificially, can help too.