The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
First Poppies of the Spring and was lucky enough to have this pair open close together. I love these flowers but they can be tough to shoot since they are on the end of long stems and even the slightest zephyrs move them around. >=))>
Specific Feedback
Toned down some of the luminance of the BG greens and did a lot of debris cleanup on the larger bloom. Need more?
Technical Details
Sony A7rIII
Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 GM-II, 2xTC @ 216mm
ISO 1600, 1/400 @ f11, 2 shot blend in Helicon Focus
Bill, the color combo and the details here are outstanding! Love all the stamen and pistil details. You’ve got the flowers well separated from the background. I don’t know if you could get in close enought, but the stamen and pistils in the pink poppy would make a great true macro photo.
An interesting combination of colors, Bill. Too bad these things won’t hold still. while this is excellent, I think a stack of this composition would have been really awesome. Just need to wait until they get to 1000 frames/second
Seriously, I really like this image. You managed to get the stamens and pistils of both blooms quite sharp and the petals are soft enough that they don’t really need to be super sharp. In fact lately I’ve been finding occasions when I want to smooth things out a bit and I’ll select the appropriate part of the image and either pull the texture slider in LR down or use my favorite Topaz plugin in PS to reduce texture.
Mark: That kind of thing is coming soon. The new macro lens is working out well. The only issues I have with it are positioning of a fixed focus lens and that it doesn’t have a tripod collar. I did find my long lost focusing rail so extreme close ups are a possibility for stationary subjects at least. >=))>
Nothing to add to what is said above, Bill. I love the color combination (an under-rated one in photography, in my opinion), and the lack of perfect radial pattern in the orange poppy. The title works well for me too.
And yeah, I see a focusing rain and stack heading your way. At some point I decided that was too much work, but I still have mine in my dedicated “macro bag,” which also has a little gorrilla pod clip with a stake on the bottom, which is useful for making these little beauties stay more still.
Beautifully done Bill! I like the clean background and the real nice complementing colors throughout the image. I don’t think you need to do any more cleaning up, it locks great as-is.
