My first macro shot

[kkraczek]

Pinwheel jasmine, in my front yard. Not sure what ratio this was shot at, because I haven't yet figured out what all that means. ;) All I know is, it is almost exactly life size on my 4x6 print. I admit that I did crop in quite a bit. Comments are always welcome! (Go easy on me, please! ;) )

Oh, it was scanned... I took this with Kodak Gold 200 film, at 500 f/2.8 (I think... forgot to write it all down- oops!)

[Young Shooter]

nice framing but it isnt so clear possibly f-stops mabey the flower was blowing in the wind that happens to me when i shoot flowers they tend to blow that y it seems to be blurry

[gahspidy]

Not a bad first attempt, but a few things need to be addressed. First off I think the framing and composition is too dead centered. Should try to catch it at a slight angle to bring on a little dimension and not center it in the frame. You kind of bullseyed the subject.
Second issue is the sharpness is lacking and maybe due to as another stated the flower moving in the wind. Might want to try using a tripod (if you did not) and wait for just the moment when the flower is still(and manually focus is best).
Third is the exposure does not seem right. I'm thinking this happened because the flower is white and might have made your cameras meter think it was overexposing and reduce it to a gray.Also very uneven lighting on the subject. You should try it again and this time bracket the shot .(if you did'nt do it already)
Try this again and repost so we can see how it turns out.
Keep at it.

[kkraczek]

Not a bad first attempt, but a few things need to be addressed. First off I think the framing and composition is too dead centered. Should try to catch it at a slight angle to bring on a little dimension and not center it in the frame. You kind of bullseyed the subject.
Second issue is the sharpness is lacking and maybe due to as another stated the flower moving in the wind. Might want to try using a tripod (if you did not) and wait for just the moment when the flower is still(and manually focus is best).
Third is the exposure does not seem right. I'm thinking this happened because the flower is white and might have made your cameras meter think it was overexposing and reduce it to a gray.Also very uneven lighting on the subject. You should try it again and this time bracket the shot .(if you did'nt do it already)
Try this again and repost so we can see how it turns out.
Keep at it.

Thanks so much for the advice Gary; I think I've just learned my first lesson in macro photography... don't be in a hurry! ;) I will definitely pull out the tripod for the next round of shots. I also got a little lazy and didn't bracket... you caught me!

I still have plenty to learn, and I truly do appreciate everyone's help here- thanks a bunch!