Spring 2014 - Your comments please!

[Sourav]

Hi everyone,

My name is Sourav Gupta (yet to update my profile page - i'll do that after this post). I am basically from India but here in Cambridge since 2011. Came to know about this wonderful website only a few days back.

Photography is my hobby and am getting interested in taking nice photographs of anything! I have a basic DSLR (nikon d5100) with the kit lenses only (so far - I am planning to get a 28-300mm mainly for convenience).

So, looking at the beautiful cherry blossoms around, I felt like clicking a few. Did some basic editing (sharpening & contrasts) in Nikon ViewNX2 after capturing. Would really love to get your comments on whether you like it or not, how i cam improve upon my skills and anything you feel like.

I have heard that people steal photographs on the internet so I had put my name as a basic protection mechanism. Sorry if this bothers. Would love to hear your opinion about more elegant ways to handle that.








Thanks for you time!

Warm regards,
Sourav

[Shadowman]

Hi Sourav,

Welcome to the group. Nice set of images. The watermark is not really a deterrent to theft, there are ways of removing the mark. Most photographers just downsize the image so that it is at least viewable on the web but useless for printing large sizes.

[Werner]

yah, welcome.
great lighting and colors in your pictures. I especially like the last one in the set.

looking forward to see more.

[bnnrcn]

Welcome Sourav,nice series,I especially like #1,I think it just needs cloning out the white piece of petal on the top left corner

[Sourav]

Hi Sourav,

Welcome to the group. Nice set of images. The watermark is not really a deterrent to theft, there are ways of removing the mark. Most photographers just downsize the image so that it is at least viewable on the web but useless for printing large sizes.

Thank you, John.

[Sourav]

Thank you, Binnur. Good catch on the petal at top left. Thanks!

[Geoff F]

You ask for comments, Sourav; so let's start from a position of attempting to create a perfect image.

Flowers etc can be a very tricky subject to get correct.

With #1 you have a main subject which has too much in the way of brightness variation, particularly a lot of shadows. You are photographing mostly from behind the flower cluster and you have pale blooms against a confusing background. But it is often difficult to find the best angle. Which is why this is a tricky form of photography.

#2 and #3 are better but the background isn't quite right for me.

#4 and #5 work much better. Although you have a somewhat complicated background it is fairly muted and tends to complement the main subject area instead of 'fighting for attention'.

And #6 is just right. It is working well. A potentially difficult exposure has been overcome.

So many of my flower shots end up getting ditched!

[Sourav]

Thank you Werner. I will surely post more photos soon.

[Mike Buckley]

Welcome, Sourav!

#6 is my clear favorite. Well done!

Some of the photos were captured in bright sunshine, which creates hard shadows that get in the way of enjoying the scene. Your florals captured in diffuse light are generally better for that reason.

[Sourav]

Hi Geoff,

Many thanks for your time & expert comments on each photo. I will surely keep in mind your inputs next time I take flower photos.

However, I do have a question for you, if you do not mind taking a few more minutes for me: you've mentioned that background isn't quite right for #2 & #3. Would you mind telling me what kind of background would you have liked there?

I really appreciate all your comments!

[Sourav]

Welcome, Sourav!

#6 is my clear favorite. Well done!

Some of the photos were captured in bright sunshine, which creates hard shadows that get in the way of enjoying the scene. Your florals captured in diffuse light are generally better for that reason.

Thank you, Mike, for your comments and the tip on capturing florals in diffused light.

[IzzieK]

Welcome to CiC Sourav. Your efforts in photographing flowers is good. To me I like #6 but take note that I have to scroll several times just to look for a favourite because your input shots here are not numbered. Do I like #3? Again I have to scroll back to check which one is #3...you do not mind if I remind you to input the numbers to your photos before putting the url, do you? Just make my eyes and brain coordinate and remember in one go after I had viewed your shots.

[Geoff F]

Those backgrounds are rather harsh and with strong contrasting colours so they tend to 'over ride' the somewhat delicate intended subject.

A clear blue sky, or with a little cloud, would have worked fine, providing you could get the exposure correct. Or a distant soft focus plain green.

With those images I think I would try to selectively reduce the brighter parts of the background so that the background becomes exactly that; and not so distracting. Using a layer and edited mask or an adjustment brush; depending on the software.

Sometimes I do a little 'gardening' before shooting and remove anything which would cause a distraction problem. But often this simply isn't feasible. Which is why I frequently look at a potential scene from several angles then just walk away if I know that I can't achieve exactly what I desire.

[FootLoose]

Hi Sourav, I agree with the comments already offered. As well as numbering them, I think you would do your photos more justice if you inserted some blank space between them so that they don't appear to merge into one another.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Sourav and welcome to CiC.

Good series to start off with.

With regard to the backgrounds of No 1 to 5 there are two schools of thought, you can give greater or less separation that convey between total isolation and showing the environment of which the flower is part of. I believe it is very much personal choice but as an example No 4 would have been perfect with total isolation (all the BG being well OOF) because it was such a strong subject but this would not necessarily work the same with the others.

What I would suggest is that you experiment with aperture and when you have the chance at shots such as these try varying DoFs and seeing which results you prefer.

Grahame

[Sourav]

Welcome to CiC Sourav. Your efforts in photographing flowers is good. To me I like #6 but take note that I have to scroll several times just to look for a favourite because your input shots here are not numbered. Do I like #3? Again I have to scroll back to check which one is #3...you do not mind if I remind you to input the numbers to your photos before putting the url, do you? Just make my eyes and brain coordinate and remember in one go after I had viewed your shots.

Thank you for your comments. Agree with you on the numbering. I will surely take care that in the future.

[Sourav]

Hi Sourav, I agree with the comments already offered. As well as numbering them, I think you would do your photos more justice if you inserted some blank space between them so that they don't appear to merge into one another.

Thanks Greg. I did realise those after posting. I'll take care of them in the future.

[Sourav]

Those backgrounds are rather harsh and with strong contrasting colours so they tend to 'over ride' the somewhat delicate intended subject.

A clear blue sky, or with a little cloud, would have worked fine, providing you could get the exposure correct. Or a distant soft focus plain green.

With those images I think I would try to selectively reduce the brighter parts of the background so that the background becomes exactly that; and not so distracting. Using a layer and edited mask or an adjustment brush; depending on the software.

Sometimes I do a little 'gardening' before shooting and remove anything which would cause a distraction problem. But often this simply isn't feasible. Which is why I frequently look at a potential scene from several angles then just walk away if I know that I can't achieve exactly what I desire.

Thank you Geoff. Very useful inputs. I am not very good/interested in post processing so I would look for more natural frames. I particularly liked the concept of "gardening". I realised that I do that too sometimes.

[Sourav]

Those backgrounds are rather harsh and with strong contrasting colours so they tend to 'over ride' the somewhat delicate intended subject.

A clear blue sky, or with a little cloud, would have worked fine, providing you could get the exposure correct. Or a distant soft focus plain green.

With those images I think I would try to selectively reduce the brighter parts of the background so that the background becomes exactly that; and not so distracting. Using a layer and edited mask or an adjustment brush; depending on the software.

Sometimes I do a little 'gardening' before shooting and remove anything which would cause a distraction problem. But often this simply isn't feasible. Which is why I frequently look at a potential scene from several angles then just walk away if I know that I can't achieve exactly what I desire.

Thank you Geoff. Very useful inputs. I am not very good/interested in post processing so I would look for more natural frames. I particularly liked the concept of "gardening". I realised that I do that too sometimes.

[Sourav]

Hi Sourav and welcome to CiC.

Good series to start off with.

With regard to the backgrounds of No 1 to 5 there are two schools of thought, you can give greater or less separation that convey between total isolation and showing the environment of which the flower is part of. I believe it is very much personal choice but as an example No 4 would have been perfect with total isolation (all the BG being well OOF) because it was such a strong subject but this would not necessarily work the same with the others.

What I would suggest is that you experiment with aperture and when you have the chance at shots such as these try varying DoFs and seeing which results you prefer.

Grahame

Thank you Grahame. Very useful feedback. Really appreciate them!