Not happy with this one

[chauncey]

I broke my own rule about only shooting pretty subjects...but it looked nice at the florist's shop.
I shot it using a black Plexiglas sheet mirroring the blue sky...is it worth a different perspective?


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[Brownbear]

Hi Chauncey,

The blue sky doesn't look real to me. Perhaps that is just me. I loved your pink flower shots.

[FrankMi]

Hi William, as it stands it could likely use some sprucing up.

Funny that you should be posting this style of flower after pointing me to Kathleen Clemons' web site. I say funny because this is exactly the kind of image that she posts and that I am, as I review this post, trying to achieve. So we are both trying to get a 'different' view of a flower. It looks like you are about as far along with yours as I am with mine - I haven't figured out how to get past this point either.

Perhaps one of the flower photographer experts will chime in and we'll both learn something new! Thank you for posting this image and I'm looking forward to the advice you receive.

[chauncey]

The blue sky doesn't look real to me

I shot it using a black Plexiglas sheet mirroring the blue sky

Aah...it won't look like a blue sky.
Frank...I'm still groping around.

[Brownbear]

Hi Chauncey,

I thought your reflected sky with the clouds in your rose image worked beautifully. The blue sky in that image (between the clouds) was lighter.

I forgot to say that I like the perspective of this shot, and the beautiful yellow colour compliments the blue sky wonderfully.

Aah...it won't look like a blue sky.
Frank...I'm still groping around.

[Shadowman]

Looks like you are either trying to emulate an overcast day or a low light shot which is probably where your issues are coming from; as the flower looks like it's shot in sunny light. It's probably just a mind twist that's keeping you from embracing this image.

[TonyW]

To my untutored eye the background looks OK except that it shows some reflection of the flower. If you could pick some relatively plain blue in the background and spread it uniformly it would look better.

I am also having trouble coming to terms with the out of focus petals against the background, although I can imagine that a little softness would be good. Perhaps that is incompatible with the stalk being out of focus, which looks to me to be essential.

[John 2]

Hi William. I'm not into flower photography but here's my two cents worth. The stamens are sharp and do catch the attention but the bright yellow of the petals detracts from that. If they were also in focus, the flower as a whole would become the subject and that might be less of a problem. So I think that perhaps more DOF is needed. As to the background, if you hadn't mentioned what you had in mind, I would have taken it as just a neutral grey BG. I must admit though, that a subdued reflection of the sky sounds like a nice idea but again you would need a bit more DOF. All of course IM untutored HO.

[Stagecoach]

William,

I'll be totally honest and although no expert on flowers I feel there's something just not right with this as a 'picture' and it seems you also feel this way about it.

The problem is that I can not say exactly what but here's a couple of things to consider;

a) The background colour looks false and does not complement the flower but I think even with a 'perfect' background that may not be the answer.

b) For the size of the 'picture' the limited amount of in focus subject, and I'm certainly not suggesting there should be more in focus, is out of proportion with the rest.

As for trying a different perspective these are often done as the below images I did way way back before I even new what WB was





Grahame

[NorthernFocus]

I tend to agree with Grahame's comments. BG color is not good for the yellow flower nor is the DOF. Flowers can be surprisingly challenging to me. Considering they just sit still and wait for you to shoot...

[Wavelength]

it looks nice; but the heavy stalk is doing some disfavor