Some recent Flower shots

[JK6065]

Here are some of my recent flower shots. Flower shots aren't that much my cup of tea so I wonder what you think about them.

#1 Dandelion




#2 Blue flower (does anyone know the name?)



#3 Orchid

This one is taken inside with sunlight form behind and flashlight from the front.




#4 Fern

I used a golden spiral grid to crop this one. Does it work? (It's a compositional tool I've been wanting to use for some time. You usually see them at spiral staircases though I find this shot an opportunity .)




C&C is very welcome

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Jeroen,

They all show your hallmark of good compositional skills, particularly the first one, I never attempt something like dandelions in a lawn, there are so many to choose from, I can never identify a good composition at that small a scale. Plus I'm getting old and creeky and if I got down that low, after a while, I'd be quite amusing to watch getting up again.

So, on #1, while I was tempted to say 'I wouldn't have cut the right hand bloom off at the edge of frame', I think I prefer to trust your judgement as it looks fine as a whole image, with a few seemingly minor things actually making the image work.

#2 is good too, just the right amount of DoF for subject, or vice versa.

Having done some flower shots recently myself, I know how easy it is without constant checking of blinkies and RGB histogram to overload and clip one colour channel while shooting, or even in PP.

#3 is unavoidably blown in the sky, but apart from that exposure is OK to my eye, however, even at f20, the depth of field is insufficient to pull off the shot unfortunately. If you were using a tripod and it wasn't windy, this looks like a classic candidate for a series of stacked focus shots to be merged in Helicon - not that I have tried that myself yet, but its only a matter of time, I'm sure.
EDIT added later: I forgot to say I'd crop about 10% off the left.

#4 looks just a little dark at the centre of interest and may possibly have blown in the green channel as there's a lack of detail on the bright right hand bit. Might be recovered from RAW with different PP.

Hope that helps, and if you think I'm being critical, it just because I know what to look for. Just wait until you see my series shot a couple of weekends ago, my PP sucks on some, so it may be a while before they see the light of day here I'm hoping things will improve in a fresh PP sitting.

Cheers,

[carregwen]

#1. I would have removed that blade of grass that crosses the central flower. Also cropped the right flower out.

#2. Spanish Bluebell, a variant of the English Bluebell (and not as good). I would have cropped the left side off, as it doesn't seem to add much to the shot.

#3. Good try, but I think the sky is too bright, or you didn't have enough flash to counterbalance the light. Did you use a diffuser between the sun and flower, or was it direct? I find orchids tricky as the flowers are often at odd angles, and there is always something else in the way. This one seems quite good though.

#4. Can you explain what you did in processing for this?

[JK6065]

Thanks for your words Dave, receiving critical comments is what I'd post them for. That's what helps me improving.

I'm quite surprised you mention good compositional skills since I find setting up good compositions one of the hardest things to master. Most of the time my composition are quite impulsive (like the Dandelion) or quite strictly bound to composition rules to give me some support.
And about the Helicon focus: I did not manage to get a proper image out of it. I tried it several times before but always end up with blurry looking images. I guess the magnification difference between my shots is too big and I think that's due to not using a macro lens for it.

Rob, thanks for your comments as well.

In # 3 there was no direct sunlight at the flower. It was just the light reflection light from the sun at the back garden. Would direct sunlight be better? I just had a look at your Camassia topic (I almost missed it though I'm glad I spotted it nevertheless) and I like the flowers being a bit translucent.

The #4 processing wasn't that spectacular.
I used a curves adjustment layer to balance the shadows mid tones and highlights a bit (it might need some extra as Dave referred). Than I reduced noise with neat image and sharpened with USM (0.3 pixels and about 300%). Than I cropped it by using a golden spiral overlay grid from the Power Retouche plugin you mentioned on the forums.

[carregwen]

In # 3 there was no direct sunlight at the flower. It was just the light reflection light from the sun at the back garden. Would direct sunlight be better? I just had a look at your Camassia topic (I almost missed it though I'm glad I spotted it nevertheless) and I like the flowers being a bit translucent.

Jeroen

The Camissia was shot indoors using studio flash, but the lighting positions were the same - light from the rear and front. This one here Improvisation on a hot sunny day was shot outdoors. It explains how I did it.