Weeds

[jeeperman]

Between birds today I spotted some weeds/dead flowers? that I couldn't pass up.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Very nice. I am liking the color combo of the purple thistle and soft green bg. Also like the harmonious colors in the lower photo and the nice contrasty lighting. Would be cool to get a close up or tight crop on one or just a few of those fluffy stalks.

[jeeperman]

Thanks, Matt. Light was really nice today.

[conkerwood]

Three very nice pics, lovely tones perfect DOF and very crisp focus. #1 I think I might like to have seen just a little more of the bottom as the cut off points of the leaves just jars slightly but I really like the inclusion of an orange toned flower to add interest and contrast. Very nice balance in #2 with the diagonal composition sitting very nicely in the space. #3 is my fav simply because of the interplay of light and texture. Good stuff

Peter

[jeeperman]

Thank you, Peter. That first one was a bit tricky. There was no place that I was not going to chop the leaves. The way the plant grows. All three of these were only very slightly cropped, more of a trim on two edges. Flowers have always been a cropping nightmare for me composition wise, so I have reallly tried to work on flower composition all last year.

[Mike Buckley]

The first two are just terrific, Paul. I especially like the first one.

[splashy]

I like nr 3 alot, we call them cattails.

[FrankMi]

Good Morning Paul. You have an eye for beauty and these are no exception as your flower composition efforts show.

I particularly like the subtle vignette in the first, the detail in the second, and the backlit glow of the cattails in the third. The second one could support a very detailed focus stack image.

[terrib]

I can see why you couldn't pass them up. The shape and color is really interesting and you did a great job. Love the detail and composition on the first 2. Love the light on the last one.

I agree with what you said on cropping. I've just recently shot some similar stalks and it's difficult to find just the right place to crop them unless you do a lot of clipping and/or cloning and then they don't look natural.

[jeeperman]

Thank you Mike, Mike, Frank and Terri. As for them being called cattails, they may be, but surely not what we call cattaiils around here. These were only about 2-3 feet tall and in dry dirt. Our cattails are 5-6 ft tall in swamp area and look like a corndog on a stick. lol I think that one is my favorite, maybe due to the effort it took to capture it and not make it look like a bunch of scrub.


Oh... and Frank, thanks for the compliment. The eye for beauty is infact something I work in search of daily.

[johnbharle]

Between birds today I spotted some weeds/dead flowers? that I couldn't pass up.

Those are very nice, indeed. No. I wouldn't call those cattails. But it's been so dry around here, all our cattails are dried up. I'll have to go looking for some. Do you mind if others post here?

[jeeperman]

Not at all John, go for it. No the first ones are surely not, they are Sea Holly. I think the last image were the ones questioned.

[Jack R Mann]

Well done Paul, #1 is my favorite.











Well done paul #1 is my favorite.

[jeeperman]

Thank you, Jack.

[JPS]

Paul,
nice set of very sharp pictures.
Well done.
John

[jprzybyla]

Good work Paul, I like them all. The light in the third is wonderful, magical.

[jeeperman]

Thank you, John and Joe.

Joe, #4 is in a way special for me. The light was comming in quite low and created a bit of shadow with these glowing bits, it was quite magical and I was unsure I could do it justice. I have tried similar in the past and when shooting such a busy scene that has no uniformity I tend to have trouble with getting a pleasing composition. I was happy with the way this came together.

[Bobobird]

Nice, very nice 1 and 2.

Cattails not so much I am afraid, but those are always difficult to make nice in my experience. Funny thing is the way they look in the field one always gets the impression that there is a good shot there.

Of the many times tried, this shot is the only one that I have been somewhat happy with and even then it is'nt all that great.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-V...20311_3798.jpg

[Letrow]

I am amazed that you get these colours at this time of year. I like the second one especially with that purple against green bokeh background. Nice crop you get from that tele lens.

[johnbharle]

I have been scouring my disk for some weed pictures, but I guess I only imagined that I ever took some Guess I have a new project now Anyway, this is a beauty berry bush by my house. It's as close to a weed as I can get today.