My daughter purchased and arranged a bouquet of flowers. I pulled out a carnation stem and captured it in my makeshift studio. I can’t seem to stop taking macro flower photos since I started. Perhaps I’ve found my niche, or is it just another genre phase?
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
Is the green bud on the right too distracting? I’ve been taking a lot of solo flower shots lately and wanted to put a new spin on just a single flower. I like how the second carnation can almost be seen as a reflection.
Technical Details
Sony A7rIV, Sony 90mm Macro, ISO 100, f/22, 1/40 sec. Used the good old tin foil wrapped around cookie sheet for light.
David, I love the bud, and the lower oof “reflection” flower. Lighting looks excellent and I also like the black bg. Why not try a stack, just to get even better focus on the main bloom, as to my eye most of the outer petals are not quite as in focus as the bud. May I also suggest a little bit more space added along the lower edge (or all edges to keep the square format)? (I loved your rose with reflection, by the way).
Thank you for the feedback @Mike_Friel (and also for the compliment on the rose reflection pic). Focus stacking is something that is next on my list to try. I wanted to get comfortable with the whole setup, lighting, composition, etc. before diving into new techniques, but I think I’m up for it now.
I posted a reworked image based off of a suggestion by my wife to rotate the image so that the flowers were on a diagonal. I had to keep the crop closer to the bottom otherwise it is obvious that the green leaves are cutoff on the bottom.
David, I like the rework. Your wife had a great suggestion there.
I know focus stacking can get more of the scene in focus, but I kinda like the main flower mostly in focus and the secondary one a bit out of focus and softer. It keeps my eye on the main flower.
It looks like you’ve landed a great technique with your makeshift studio and tools. Well done.
David: I do like the tilted version better but both work well. I’m on the fence regarding the bud. For me if it was a bit closer to the main blooms it would suit me better. As is it tends to pull my eye away from the main subject just a little too much. Another fine tuning would be to fill in the dark shadow on the BG flower at about 5 o’clock on the main bloom and maybe fill in the hole between the petals on the main bloom at 10 o’clock. Overall I think your studio work is looking pretty good and I hope it’s not just a phase for you. Keep after it! >=))>
For me the tilted version works better only because it isn’t quite so straight up and down and it seems more of a choice than something accidental. The bud though … it’s nice, but it feels out of place here somehow. It’s sharp, green and just far enough away from the flowers that it too, feels accidental. These kinds of arrangements are very hard to pull off, so kudos for trying. I find that studio set ups and roses go together because roses have been so heavily cultivated for so long that they don’t even seem remotely wild anymore. Of course wild ones don’t look anything like these, so there is that, but the artificiality of both subject and setting works harmoniously. Ok, I’ll stop rambling now.
Thank you @David_Bostock@Kris_Smith and @Bill_Fach for your feedback. Per Bill’s suggestion, I have filled in the gaps on the top flower. And for Kris, I included a version without the bud as well.
Now I see it sans bud, I miss it. And I meant carnation and wrote rose, but it’s similar in terms of intense cultivation. I can tell which are from Columbia and which aren’t, but you aren’t showing the part that tells.
