The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I spent the last few mornings at the local Iris farm and garden. They have dozens of varieties and it’s a lot of fun to shoot them. This year, the rain showers kept all the blooms nicely wetted down.
Specific Feedback
Any comments appreciated.
Technical Details
Nikon Z8, 105mm Macro lens. 1/100 sec @ f/8, ISO 500. Handheld. This was my first try at handholding for flower photography. Kinda liberating and able to get some different compositions.
Preprocessed in DXO Photolab and final processing in Capture One.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Yes!! That’s a great way to deal with Iris, with the tight portrait technique. Those are awesome raindrops and a gorgeous color. Sharp where it needs to be! No nits!
You caught the colors and controlled the light so well here. I like what you chose to focus on very much. Stacks that get everything in focus are often less interesting. I really love how the green provides a vignette in the corners (maybe smooth out the LLC a bit). And I agree about the handholding, especially for wet flowers, where a tripod will likely knock off all the drops!
I’ll be the contrarian here, David. I find myself wishing for a bit more depth of field to get more of that upper petal in crisp focus. It looks like you had plenty of light to work with. The lower petal and the in-focus front rib of the upper petal are gorgeous.
Dave: Beautiful flower and I do like your DOF/POF choice. Another version with more DOF like @Dennis_Plank mentioned would be nice as well. Nice job getting this hand held. I find it difficult to do with longer lenses but the 105 should be easier to manage. I have a 100mm which is incredibly sharp but I’ve gotten so used to and comfortable with my 200 macro and 70-200 on a tripod that probably 98% of my shooting is done that way. Really nice result here. >=))>
Fresh is definitely the word. I love the peach and melon tones here - so soothing and inviting. The vignette is a tad dark for my taste, but that’s just me. I really like the way the droplets are evenly distributed and the very tight crop. These flowers are just so bulbous and hard to shoot, but I agree that handholding does feel liberating after being anchored by a tripod. What a sight for my color starved eyes.
