Macro Photography--Orchid

[chandlerjr]

Took this at an Orchid show. Nikon F100, 70 - 300mm in Macro mode. F8 at 1/60 (I think--had to take several very quickly to get a good exposure.

[Knight]

Nice colors only one thing i can ad to this photo is that your lens seems to have lint or dust on it . I cant say much more because im new at this photography stuff , im in the very early stages of taking pictures hehe.

[Dzerzhinski46]

There are two things about this photo that bother me. In the first place, and this is very minor so you can take it or leave it, that this is not very macro in my opinion. Second, I would say that the color of the orchid is such that it seems to blend a little bit into the background, the left portion especially. Other than the background, a nice shot. I just wish it was a little more brilliant.

Dzerzhinski

[jar_e]

I'd have to agree with the previous posts. The background is just too busy for this shot, and a little more crispness and sharpness on the flower would help it out alot. Though the definition of macro is loosely thrown around, I wouldn't consider this a macro. For this shot, I believe a macro would consist of the center of the flower, not the whole thing its self. Good shot, but could be improved!

Jared

[gahspidy]

chandlerjr, The image looks soft, but that may be from the scan as with the dust. i am bothered by the stem coming upfrom the lower right and the centering of the subject. BG colors are nice, but do distract from the subject. Look forward to viewing more from you.

[coachgns]

While we're talking photos from Orchid Show, I'd like your opinions on these please:

[jar_e]

Lovely second shots. Much better then your first. I love the first one, very nice DOF and great colors.

Lovely,

Jared

[readingr]

I really like the last two photos - excellent. I think the top one could do with a black frame around it to make it stand out.

The original set did noting for me at all background to busy etc. as everyone else has pointed out.

[dadas115]

Chandlergr, I like the colors in this photo. One of the first things I noticed about the picture, unfortunately, was the presence of the dust spots. I don’t know if they are a result of scanning or dirty photo equipment but for me they detract a lot from the photo.

If this were my photo I would probably do a lot of cropping on it to make the flower more of a dominant part of the picture. I might also try a slightly different angle to get rid of that alternate stem on the bottom right of the frame.

I like the lighting in this picture. If it wasn’t natural lighting you could have fooled me. I find that I generally dislike flower photos where a flash was the primary light source because the lighting tends to be too harsh and makes the flowers look unnatural. Your photo looks very natural and I like that a lot.

Coachgns, these are some nice photos that you have posted. They probably deserve to be posted in their own thread so they can get more attention. On the first one I like the composition and color but the lighting seems a bit harsh to me. I don’t particularly like the hard shadows on the petals and am not too thrilled with the black background. I also think that the petals would look a lot more natural with softer light. This photo might be helped by bouncing your flash off a reflector.

On the second one I also like the color and composition though I might crop a tad off the right side of the photo since it doesn’t seem to be adding much to the photo. Again the harsh shadows takes away from this photo for me but I think the black background works well here. Maybe indirect lighting and/or a diffuser would help with the shadows.

Greg