National Arboretum

[dmm96452]

A few of the shots I took at the National Arboretum yesterday. Opinions good or bad are welcome as is modifying and reposting.

This one I just thought was a cool looking flower.


I love the bokeh on this one but wish the subject flower stood out a little more.


This shot seemed somewhat unremarkable but I'd love to make a puzzle out of it!

[poker]

The first shot is nice but I think a square crop would make it better. You don't need the top or bottom of this photo.

I like the second shot the best. I'm just concerend with the background being of the same color and you might lose your main subject to the background. I'm not a digital editing wizard so I wouldn't know what to tell you.

The last one is a fine shot. I can feel how nice it may have been there. It's a general photo that is missing a focal point.

I'm going to a japanese garden in a couple weeks. I hope I get some nice shots like yours.

[dmm96452]

The first shot is nice but I think a square crop would make it better. You don't need the top or bottom of this photo.....

Definitely. I usually crop with an eye toward printing but for posting or anything else I could stand to be more open minded about cropping.

...I like the second shot the best. I'm just concerend with the background being of the same color and you might lose your main subject to the background. I'm not a digital editing wizard so I wouldn't know what to tell you....

I believe I could make the flower stand out a little more but have feared making it over "Photoshopped". I will give it a try and see how it looks.

...The last one is a fine shot. I can feel how nice it may have been there. It's a general photo that is missing a focal point.

I'm going to a japanese garden in a couple weeks. I hope I get some nice shots like yours.

That general feeling is about all I was hoping for from that. I stood there for about 5 minutes knowing that I liked what I was seeing but not able to find a good shot. Finally, I just gave up and clicked.

I have some shot of the Bonsai trees I shot at the arboretum last year. I'll try to post a few of them.

Thanks for your help!

[GB1]

Some very nice spring flowers there.. #2 is my favorite, though I wish the flower was a little darker and bolder to stand out against the very very good background. Nice job overall.

GB

PS - I like how you showed the area you shot in the last photo. This is very informative - I think I will also try to do this in the future.

[StormGirl_LP]

What lens did you shoot this with?

[dmm96452]

Thanks for the comments GB. I'm going to try to edit the middle photo to see if I can make the flower "pop" a little more. I'm just afraid it will look a little too processed. We'll see.

[dmm96452]

I have cropped the first and tried to make the second stand out from the background a little better.

StormGirl - I used a 50mm f1.8 wide open for the first two.

[poker]

Good job on the post work. I really like the second shot. The colors don't interfere with the subject and the way it floats thanks to DOF.

Good follow up.

[dmm96452]

Thanks manacsa and thanks again for the pointers.