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I took these pictures one morning last week. I think the main question I have for the first picture is, when taking close-up pictures of flowers, how do you decide which part of the flower to focus on? How do you think I did with where I focused and how much of the flower is in focus?
Other than that, any other critique, comments or suggestions for either picture are appreciated! 🙂
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I forgot to say what my settings were!
1st picture-
Focal length: 200mm | ISO: 1600 | Shutterspeed: 1/200 | Aperture: f/102nd picture-
Focal length: 200mm | ISO: 1600 | Shutterspeed: 1/200 | Aperture: f/18Hi @bennett-family,
Beautiful flowers! Love the colours. 😀
I always wondered the same thing: what do you focus on when shooting a flower? Something @jamesstaddon said on a critique helped me kind of figure it out. He said when you look at a flower picture, if it’s properly in focus, your eye will immediately pick that out. However, with each flower image, the point of focus will be different. Sometimes it’s the petals, the centres, the seeds (think immature dandelions and sunflowers), etc. James said: Play around! Try different points of focus and see which one your eye gravitates to as an “in-focus image.”
In your case, I’m partial to the first image. It’s the one that strikes me as the most in-focus. I can feel the texture and dew (dew? or maybe it’s just water?!) on the petals. The only thing is your ISO…I feel its a bit high because it throws a grain over the clarity of your image. I like to shoot flowers in good outside lightning at an ISO no higher than 320 (preferably 100 or 150). That’s just my preference though, and I know shooting environment and other factors can effect that.
Love the colours in the second image! I feel like my eye isn’t exactly sure where to focus though. If it had been possible, eliminating the two side roses from the image might make a more focused shot? Also, moving the camera up to include the full top flower might be a good idea. Another I had to learn to watch for was leaves or petals in which little critters had enjoyed for a meal. 🙂 Just a few ideas! Good work!
Thanks, @morganwriter1gmail-com for your comments. What you said about focus makes sense!
I liked the first picture better as well; I felt like the texture and dew were vivid! My ISO was so high because the flowers were next to a bush which was casting quite a bit of shade over them, so it was relatively dark. Ugh. I felt like I couldn’t go lower with my ISO because I didn’t think I could really adjust my aperture or shutterspeed and still get a good image; I wonder if I should’ve just lowered my ISO a bit, shot it under-exposed, and then brought up the brightness in post-processing? Or would that affect image quality anyways? (I’m still quite an amateur with the whole editing thing 😉 )
Good point there about the little critters! I hadn’t noticed that until afterwards. I was trying to get different angles of the flowers, but I think you’re right; in this case, focusing on just one blossom looks better than trying to include several.
Happy to hear it, @bennett-family!
Hmm…I see your point. I proabaly wouldn’t play with the aperture…you have a bit more leeway in adjusting the shutter speed though; just nothing under 1/125 for this shot, I’d say. Haha, I’m still an amateur editor as well! My education was packed into a 2.5 day ACTION workshop, and after that, I was one my own. Let’s say the internet has been a big help in discovering what all these post-processing sliders do. 😉 I think what you said about lowering the ISO, shooting a bit under exposed, and then brightening the image after would probably work. I do it often without thinking about it especially in shadowy areas…like our garden. 🙂
Thanks @morganwriter1gmail-com and @jamesstaddon!!
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