The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
I was our trying to take pictures of bumblebees in my wife’s poppies a couple of days ago and I was playing with putting a doubler on my 70-200 f/4 macro which ended up really slowing down the autofocus creating many missed shots. This one I saved because I liked the looks of the poppy itself.
Feedback Requested
Does the flow of this image work for you? I tried flipping it horizontally and it was a definite loser. More or less contrast?
Technical Details
Camera: SONY ILCE-7RM5
Lens: FE 70-200mm F4 Macro G OSS II + 2X Teleconverter
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/1600s
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 2500
Also used circular polarizer.
In processing I selected the stamens and brought down highlights.
Image was rotated and cropped to 5313x3985 before resizing for posting.
Interesting take on the Poppy. I think getting the color of the California Poppy to come out as we see it is one of the most difficult colors to nail down. It is so intensely bright that it fools camera sensors all the time and makes the color darker than it really is. You have managed to get the color right in my opinion. I also like that there is a subtle variation in the two petals on top. I think I would try to work on getting more separation of the stamens from the petals to get them to stand out better, especially on the left side.
Dennis: I wholeheartedly agree with @Youssef_Ismail regarding the color and it looks like you got right up to the edge before getting things blown out. Neat and unconventional comp. I had to do the flip myself since I’m such a left-to-right guy but I see your point. I do wonder what this would look like if you shot the center in this same orientation but placed it on the left third. Interesting too that you had some AF issues with your 2x aboard. I pair it with my 70-200 f2.8 routinely and it doesn’t seem to miss a beat. I’m a little surprised that just one extra f-stop would affect performance. Whatever the issues, this is an intriguing, engaging and thoroughly enjoyable take on this little beauty. >=))>
Nice image, Dennis, of a flower I don’t think I have ever had the challenge to photograph. I also thought flip it horizontally when I first looked at it but saw where you said it didn’t work. Some things just don’t look right any other way than the way we took it. This seems to be one of those.
