The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Captured last spring outdoors in natural light, in my front yard. One of my first real forays into macro. I find macro photography to be difficult to get into position and work a scene because it is all so close. Helps to be patient, a bit of a contortionist at times, and have no wind blowing! Poppies blooming is one of my favorite sights.
Specific Feedback
Interested in likes and don’t likes about this image. Or what could be done different.
All comments, questions, observations appreciated.
Technical Details
Fujufilm X-T4 + Laowa 65mm lens at 21mm. 1/1000 sec, ISO 200, f 4.0 ; Manual focus lens.
Processing: Lightroom/Photoshop, Topaz software
Well, James, what a beauty you captured there! Besides being a contortionist, it also helps to have a fully articulated LCD screen on your camera. Oh yes, and pray for no wind.
Your image is beautiful. I love the sharp edges around the petals and how you centered the poppy in this crop. The colors are perfect and well-balanced. There is not much I can offer that would make this image even better. As a matter of personal preference, if I had edited this photo, I would have eliminated (cloned out) the yellow hue near the LRC. It is a very minor thing, but it would help keep the viewer’s eyes on the flower and not want to leave the frame. This is a beautiful capture indeed.
A beautiful image of this poppy, James. I like the shallow depth of field and the plane of focus you chose. In addition to removing the other poppy intruding on the lower right as @Egídio suggests, I’m noticing just a hint of a glow in the collar under the bloom itself and it makes me think enhancing that glow a little bit might add something to the image. I’m not sure it would work, but if this were my image, I’d probably play with it to see. The light is awesome in this image and there’s no reason not to try to use it to it’s fullest.
I love the colors, bokeh and composition of your photo. I agree with comments @Egídio and @Dennis_Plank left. The only thing I can add is that there appears to be a few beads of moisture on the RH petal and a few small specs of dirt scattered around that I would clone out.
For me, one of the hardest parts of photographing flora is deciding on the point of focus. More often than not, I’ll shoot a stack and decide in post where I want my focal point to be. I like your focal point selection. You have fine, crisp detail right where it needs to be. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the good eyes on David. I do now see those small details. I did an edit repost just before you posted. Added some additional saturation to the white background bokah also to make it fade into the background better. I will clean up the (poppy) dust on the LH side later and probably leave the water droplets on the RH side. Many small (good) changes = big improvement.
Hi and welcome to the Flora category - this is a simple beauty made even better by the small changes and tweaks. Nicely done. Close up and macro are always challenging with things like this that wave and move in the slightest breeze; it never fails to basically start a monsoon the instant I get my camera out of the bag! Well not really, but it seems that way, but we must persist!
