First Time

[Duane]

Hi all! This is my very first photo ever of this type so please critique it's butt off . This site has enspired me to do more than simple snapshots.

[F8&Bthere]

Congrats on your inspiration and a nice shot. I can't really see anything wrong with it at all to my eye. I guess that's not the point of a critique forum then is it? Maybe just a hair more localized pop/contrast/saturation on the flowers themselves if you did any post-processing? But then again I'm viewing on an uncalibrated monitor

Nice work!

[Marko]

Well thanks so much for making our site your first
This is quite a good start I must say. A few points will help you improve.

First off notice that the front leaf is the sharpest element in this shot. Is that what you wanted? To MY eye (and lots of this is personal opinion) the most interesting (which is often the brightest element, and is often the focal point) part of the shot where my eye is immediately drawn to is the flowers at top center....so for me, that should be the sharpest part of the shot. The sharpness should never be random, it should always be chosen.

Look at those diagonal lines in the background. For me they are a distraction. The background again is something photographers need to pay attention to. For a shot like this, neutral backgrounds are usually best. The colour of your background is a very good choice as it is quite different (and opposite in colour) from the green leaves. It's really the lines that are the only distraction in the background.

That's mostly what I'd suggest, but the beauty of forums is that others will also have ideas that will help.
Hope that helps and welcome again!
Marko

[Duane]

Thank you for the critiques so far . marko, those critiques are things that never ever occurred to me. Thank you! I will certainly look out for those things in future shots, but I think that I might touch up this one based on those ideas and re-submit it. That will help me to be sure that I understand everything.

I did do some post processing on the image. I adjusted the color and sharpness, but I didn’t even give a thought to the focal point. These things are all pretty new to me. Also the background is also very interesting! I never gave it a second thought to the diagonal lines. I did consider the color and decided that I liked it as is, but the lines weren’t even considered. Thanks again I will definitely look out for these elements in the future. In the meantime, I think I’ll work on this and re-submit to be sure that I understand. Also the critiques that F87Bthere have made are very valuable, thanks. I’m ashamed to admit it, but my screens are not calibrated. I’m dying to get my hands on a spyder II though.

Thanks again

[Marko]

My pleasure Duane.
Guiding the eye by being keenly aware of the focal point(s) while shooting and during post processing is a SURE way to bring your photography up several notches.

Please do feel free to upload a new version in this thread for comparison.

One more tip though, a sharp focal point is best decided and taken during the camera exposure. Artificially sharpening a focal point in photoshop does not work well if that element was not pretty sharp to begin with.
Best - Marko

[kat]

I think marko really got it for you. I think it's a pretty photo none the less - excellent start

[Duane]

I think marko really got it for you. I think it's a pretty photo none the less - excellent start

Thanks Kat. I've decided not to work on this photo. Instead I'll try and recapture it properly next time . The day I took this photo, the wind was not kind and this little weed was blowing crazily in the wind. When I tried to recapture it yesterday it was the same thing. Out of frustration I gave up on it but I will try again today.

[z06-jim]

I really like this shot.......I'm a nooby myself and have learned a lot from this site...
Marko and others on here are really great on giving constructive advice for us beginners...

[Bambi]

I really like this shot.......I'm a nooby myself and have learned a lot from this site...
Marko and others on here are really great on giving constructive advice for us beginners...

I absolutely agree with this statement. I do like the shot but as pointed out there are ways to move it from 'nice' to 'outstanding'. since you have this shot have you thought about cropping to the leaf and see how you like the result? It will change the focal point and might work. or it might not. but at least you can see.

[Duane]

Thanks a lot z06-jim and bambi. I never thought of the crop. I think I'll try that and see if I like it . Thanks again!