The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Sitting at the gardens just watching the bees when this one decided it was time for a break.
Specific Feedback
I did remove some of the OOF plants that I thought was a distraction behind the main flower.
Technical Details
R7 rf 100-400 with 1.4x extender. 1/1000 f/16 560mm iso 1600 I was about 6 feet back. I just sit and wait because the flower added to this photo. I sometimes will pick a composition and just wait, sometimes like an hour.
Very nice! Luck favors the prepared and the patient. Good call on the BG cleanup.
Don’t know your processing but did you try big moves with Shadows (up) and Highlights (down) in raw conversion? Might make the bee stand out more. If you’ve already done that, some higher exposure could be brushed on the bee. The white flower pushed your exposure a bit low for the main subject. The bee looks very sharp and well detailed and should stand up to some local contrast work.
Dean, sitting and watching bees is a good thing, but taking shots like this is even better. I like what Diane did, I think it makes the bee stand out even more. I love the angle that the flower is tilted in the frame, and he is framed in nicely with the white pedals. I am not familiar with this flower with the blue center, but it is beautiful. You captured nice details in the bee.
Great technique for getting a great shot, Dean. I love your composition and depth of field. I do like Diane’s idea on adjusting the bee for a bit more pop. When I do birds, which is most of my photography, I always select the subject and adjust it separately.
Thanks for the feedback. I took some suggestions that were posted and I think the subject comes out more. I darken the flower just a bit and brought up more on the subject. I changed the crop so the subject is shifted a little to the left.
The update works great. She just looks naturally at home and the flower is quite different (at least for me) and makes it more special. Sitting and waiting for nature to come to you is one of the most relaxing and rewarding activities. Well, if you can call it active, lol. Benefits us so much in terms of well-being and stress. Plus we get lovely photos like this one.
It sounds like we have some people in this thread that aren’t familiar with the flower. It’s a South African daisy species. The genus is Osteospermum and they’re popular ornamentals coming in lots of colors.
