Seems like Spring is earlier this year. I eagerly await seeing these tiny flowers come up in my front yard. Sony a77II, Tamron 16-300mm at 300mm, ISO 200, 1/400, f/6.3, tripod mounted. A distraction are the other petals intruding into the scene. I need to get better at eliminating such things. I welcome any advice or suggestions and thank you for viewing. I must say that getting out in nature and then viewing all the wonderful photos on this site is a great antidote for all of the virus news we’re confronted with each day.
Jim: This is a very nice subject but tough light. Content Aware can get rid of the partial petals pretty easily but the varied light on the BG is the real issue. I tamed some of the most egregious hot spots but there is a lot of distraction in the original BG. Adding a strong vignette can help to spotlight the subject. One thing you can do if you have a messy BG like this is to stand in the way of the sun and cast your body shadow over the flower. You could also use a diffuser to soften the light. A big one can be unwieldy but will cover the subject and BG. Hope this helps and keep 'em coming. >=))>
Thanks Bill, big improvement, I do have a diffuser so will use it next time.
Jim, I’ve got a few of these scattered throughout my yard. This is a good look, showing off the golden innards against the purple petals very nicely. Removing the extra flower parts does help to focus attention on the single bloom. Other ways to avoid the “distraction” are searching for an isolated flower, gently leaning the nearby blooms out of the way or trying a different viewing angle. I can’t overemphasize the word gentle when it comes to leaning neighbors out of the way, since I’m sure you don’t want to damage the other blooms and their statement about spring getting started.
Thanks Mark, great advice. Have to learn to “clean up my scene”
before releasing the shutter.
Jim
Jim, I am so glad that spring seems to be early, and getting a few blooms to enjoy. This is a beautiful bloom. You were dealing with some harsh light, so as Bill mentioned, the diffuser could help there. A cloudy day is a good day for macro/flora type shots as well. I have found that have a few clothes pins with me can help in cleaning up the scene, by gently pulling the unwanted plants back momentarily and clipping them to another until I get my shot, and then letting them go back into place. That way we aren’t breaking any of the plants, and leaving the scene as we found it.
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