Orange Clivia:

[AB26]

I was supposed to be proud of this one. Paid much attention while shooting. It was shot in daylight using flash.
The empty space, bottom left, worried me so I added some vignetting to make it less obvious.

I’m not sure if this is a keeper or not.

What do you think? Please be honest!

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, I think it's a good starting point. The tips of the green leaves at the bottom of the frame could be cloned out. Detail of the stamens could be brought out a bit, just to separate them from the petals a bit. What was your intentions with using flash during the day? Was it windy, were you trying to create or tone down shadows?

[AB26]

Nice effort, I think it's a good starting point. The tips of the green leaves at the bottom of the frame could be cloned out. Detail of the stamens could be brought out a bit, just to separate them from the petals a bit. What was your intentions with using flash during the day? Was it windy, were you trying to create or tone down shadows?

Thank you John.

I have never been any good at using flash. Since I have learned something about using flash, from NvN, I am trying to overcome my fear of flash. Now I am using flash more and more and I find it works wonders in daylight.

At the moment I am trying to master Manual flash settings.

[Shadowman]

Thank you John.

I have never been any good at using flash. Since I have learned something about using flash, from NvN, I am trying to overcome my fear of flash. Now I am using flash more and more and I find it works wonders in daylight.

At the moment I am trying to master Manual flash settings.

Andre,

I'm in the learning process myself. I find that each new item requires more setup parameters which is what makes the process so intriguing. I had a few moments this morning to shoot an apple, a snack food bag, and a few seeds and had quite a few challenges to overcome. I was concerned with the reflective surface of the snack bag, the tone and highlights of the fruit, and effects of background on the overall image. I may have to purchase some wax fruit until I master my technique. Have fun.

[Geoff F]

If you have any spare space in the original (if this is a crop) you could do a counter clockwise rotation to lessen the bottom left space. But would that then look too regular?

The only thing I would change is to remove some of those white spots on the petals towards the top.