Gentle Touch

[Quentin88]

I would like some criticisms and comments for that picture =)



Exif:
Model NIKON D5100
Shutter Speed 1/2000 second
Aperture F/5.6
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 400
White Balance Direct Sunlight

Description:
First day of Spring, a warmer but still soft sun caress the skin, a gentle wind full of hopes and promises blow throught the branchs of the trees and a white and pure blossom wait to bloom exposing all his beauty, trembling at the slightest of touch... '-' OR it's just a flower... but I, personally, prefer the first description.

The goal:
What i wanted to achieve in that shot is to give the "illusion" of a gloved hand (the petals on the upperleft corner) tending to touch the blossom that will bloom at the touch. For that I used the wider aperture I could to "exclude" any background distraction and underexposed of 1 stop to fully capture the gentle light on the blossom. I tried different composition trying to give to the shoot more sense of "movement" ("bloom at the touch" effect), trying different angles, placing the blossom differently etc but I find than between all the composition than I tried this one is the best one. The "opening" in the blossom is centered but the blossom is slighty bendend to the right where his shape is also more prominent, that plus the lighted green leaf create, in my opinion, a good balance with the "gloved-petals".

The Question:
The petal's blossom in the foreground is out of focus -.- So my question is: In your opinion; that ruin the shoot? Also differents critics and suggestions are welcome

P.S. Is my first thread, I hope is good :shy face:

[Geoff F]

For me, Pellegringo, it is a reasonable shot; but if you are looking for absolute perfection this doesn't quite do it.

Firstly, why shoot with those settings? Unless there was a specific reason, I would have used a much slower shutter speed and a narrower aperture (probably F11 to F16) to give a greater depth of sharp focus. But I'm not familiar with your camera so do you have the option for that sort of setting?

It isn't a perfect flower bud. Sometimes they are impossible to find. I often have an idea but don't do it because I can't find the 'correct flower'.

That out of focus petal in the foreground does, to some extent, spoil the image for me. Which is where a narrower aperture or a merge of different focus points would have been useful.

You have managed the exposure on the white bud well. This is so easy to over expose. And particularly difficult when shooting outside in 'real' sunlight.

The composition is good although I would have cropped very slightly closer on the left side to lose that very slight portion of a 'grey finger' which looks a bit odd. Or better still, clone it out.

Nevertheless, this is an acceptable shot and far better than most people could achieve.

[Quentin88]

it is a reasonable shot; but if you are looking for absolute perfection this doesn't quite do it.

Well, I don't believe in "absolute perfection"... but, however, I'm looking to become a professional so I want to get as close as possible to it.

Firstly, why shoot with those settings? Unless there was a specific reason, I would have used a much slower shutter speed and a narrower aperture (probably F11 to F16) to give a greater depth of sharp focus.

Since the background was distracting and really close to the flowers I choose to use a really wide aperture to let the deep of field be as narrow as possible thus to "exclude" the background and let the attention be all for the flower. Still you are probably right, since i shooted it with a 300mm probably (almost certainly) a narrower aperture wouldn't have however enlarged the dof too much but at same time would have moved the near focus limit closer and the foreground petal would have been in focus. Silly me =(

Thanks for your critics, I will try to don't be so "scared" of using too much or too few deep of field next time =)

P.S. :

Pellegringo

... XD it's Pellegrino

[TonyW]

I like this image as it is. The shallow DoF gives it the gentle touch and even the in-focus parts have a soft feel about them. The composition and colours are nice.

[Stagecoach]

Pellegrino,

Firstly, welcome to CiC.

So often we concentrate on finding perfect blooms to capture, not always easy. Your focus on this is good and concentrated on the content of the image you wanted to feature, the fact that the foreground petal is OOF improves the shot for me.

Grahame

[IzzieK]

Peregrino...that was a good shot. I like how you have captured the whiteness of the main petals of the flower...what sort of flower is it anyway??? just asking if you do not mind.

BTW, welcome to CiC..

[Quentin88]

Thanks everyone for the welcoming and for the encouragements, still I think than the picture would have been better with the foreground petal in focus, my goal is to become a professional so I can't be kind with myself. I will try to exercise better with dof and apertures enspecially with my tele-lens to achieve better shots... Hopefully I would have the chance tomorrow at a street food festival hoping to shoot some nice candid portraits, wish me "good light" ^^

Peregrino...

it's Pellegrino XD Anyway, don't worry, I pointed it out just because I find it funny, it's a unusual name in Italy too.. and it's also a noun (means "pilgrim" or "wandering foreign" in english).

..what sort of flower is it anyway???

it should be a Magnolia Stellata (also called Star Magnolia)

[chauncey]

I'm assuming that this was shot in it's natural environment...finding the perfect flower would be a neat trick. The "gloved hand" thing was lost on me, anyway...bottom petal should be in focus, background color is great, part of flower is a little blown out (drop the upper RGB numbers to about 245-250 using clipping mask). Generally, when I shoot in harsh sunlight, I intend to do a B&W conversion, otherwise use the golden hours. Overall, it is a nice image.

[Downrigger]

Nice image and story. I think the lower foreground petal adds a sense of gravity on the one hand, and limpness on the other, and to me both detract from the desired effect. I think the gloved hand is a pretty allegory but not sure it comes through sufficiently here.

[Gigi71]

PELLEGRINO (just thought about the wrong spelling "Pellegrini" by purpose, which is an ice cream parlour out of my childhood memories and it starts to get funny around your name with its numerous variations - I like the Pellegringo most

I fancy that image of a magnolia, maybe the forground petal would fit in more favorable if the blossom would be turned a little so it wouldn't appear that frontal. That bright white in front of this colour of background is appealing in my view. And I like that poetic description just like the idea of the allegory, in fact a good interpretation. Well done your first thread!

Gigi

P.S.: Thinking of taking pictures of Magnolias now as I really love them, pity they fade so quickly, hope you don't mind.

[Wavelength]

Death meets Life, i felt; i liked it

[Quentin88]

PELLEGRINO

hooray \o/

... just thought about the wrong spelling "Pellegrini" by purpose, which is an ice cream parlour out of my childhood memories...

'-'

I like the Pellegringo most

me too XD

P.S.: Thinking of taking pictures of Magnolias now as I really love them, pity they fade so quickly, hope you don't mind.

Of course I don't mind, on the contrary, looking to differents interpretation of a same subject is always instructive.

[Geoff F]

I was flicking the screen up and down to try to spell your name; so perhaps I was thinking like a Mexican when I changed part of it to 'gringo'

Anyway, regarding depth of focus. If you manually focus, which is usually best, you can still have a narrow aperture with greater focus depth and a out of focus background by 'shifting' the focus point a little forward. Which would put everything required into that focus area, except the background.