Another hummingbird plant in the yard.
I am enjoying shooting these, I have never tried before until recently.
It is challenging since these are real plants and in fall weather, it is always breezy so I have to shoot high iso and not very small apertures…
This might be old hat to the Flora photographers here but it is new to me.
Background is a Smoke tree across the yard, a fortunate location as finding the BG for interesting plants is tough in the real world.
D610, F10, iso640, 1/125, 300mm (300 f2.8)
2 Likes
This is very nice, Dan. The smoke tree makes an awesome background and you have nice depth of field on the flower cluster with good detail.
I don’t know about other people, but I’ve been known to slip an artificial background behind flowers at times.
Dan, this is my favorite of your flora images so far. I like the BG, the DOF and the wonderful color of the flowers. I have no real nits, just some housecleaning that would put this over the top for me. There is some small color and luminance noise that just a mild dose of NR would take care of. There is a tiny insect on one of the back blossoms just at the left of the mid point, easy to clone away. There are some decay spots, but these are to be expected of any flora image in the Fall.
I apologize for editing a copy of your image. All I did was some mild image NR (topaz DeNoise) and a TK sharpen for web at 50%. Small steps, but they do make a difference. Compare them large with yours. In fact, I highly recommend Tony Kuyper’s Photoshop Actions. Takes a while to understand them, but they are a wonder!
Thanks Phil, I really appreciate it.
A new field for me, fun and I always am trying to get better…
I see the difference.
Dan, this is a very nice image! The background is excellent, the point of view and depth are both great, and the colors really pop. And the light is also great. Phil’s minor tweaks make it even better. Great work!
Like Dennis, I sometimes slip a backdrop, usually black, behind a subject as well. Sometimes it’s really needed when the natural background just doesn’t work.
Thanks Steve, this really is a natural background, real plants in the yard.
The smoke tree is spectacular in the fall in the NW, although this is deepened a bunch, but still
completely natural.
I really do approach these like bird or wildlife photography, Isolate the subject with DOF and sharpness.
I would disclose in a second if I substituted a background, I am not a pro, I do this for fun, I would not spend the time, and I also do not know how…?
Dan
Great background on the photo! It serves very nicely to isolate your colorful subject.
Kathy
Dan: You’re getting the hang of Flora pretty quickly. I love the color spectrum and the BG especially. Phil’s tweaks are icing on a very fine cake. 
>=))>
Well, just wait for a quiet day… or early in the morning or late in the evening when the wind has calmed. I live near the coast (everyone does in the Netherlands) and the omnipresent breeze can be frustrating. For flora and macro work I always carry two sticks, bought at the garden center, which I can put in the ground to support a reflector, a hat or a jacket to create light, shade or an artificial background. I like the image, smooth background but not featureless and compliant colour. The tweaks made it even better.
Dan,
Beautiful floral image. I was thinking this needed just a tiny bit of punch and although subtle, I like Phil’s edits. Terrific bg/color. Well done.
Lon