January Daffodil

[Reevo]

Not 100% happy with this as should probably shoot from underneath with a mirror perhaps? Also, would like to get rid of the green stems on the top right hand side of the main plant. I'm new to this so not sure of best way to achieve this, layers???
January daffodil by Patrick Reeve, on Flickr

[Stan]

Re: January Daffodil

Really the background is far too messy and takes attention away from the flower

If you had perhaps shot from a much lower angle then maybe there would have been a cleaner background or alternatively placed coloured paper or card behind the flower

The sort of lens can make a difference too - I would have used a dedicated macro lens which due to their characteristic narrow depth of field, the background may have been thrown right out of focus

stan

[Reevo]

Re: January Daffodil

Really the background is far too messy and takes attention away from the flower

If you had perhaps shot from a much lower angle then maybe there would have been a cleaner background or alternatively placed coloured paper or card behind the flower

The sort of lens can make a difference too - I would have used a dedicated macro lens which due to their characteristic narrow depth of field, the background may have been thrown right out of focus

stan

I shot some as well with an aperture of 1.6 but it was all a bit too blurry. As you say, different angle required.

[Stan]

Re: January Daffodil

I shot some as well with an aperture of 1.6 but it was all a bit too blurry

it is not the aperture you use, its just that a macro lens has a much narrower dof when you compare say to your 17-85 - even at f8, which I use most of the time for macro, you will get much more blur in the background than shooting f8 with the 17-85

Stan

[tigerburnie]

Re: January Daffodil

For what it's worth I think a "nature" shot, which this is, should look like this. If however you wanted , shall we say, a "scientific" category shot, then it does need either a plain background or picking and taken inside a studio. At the end of the day, what was it you wanted? if it was a nature shot, then I think it's pretty good.

[Reevo]

Re: January Daffodil

it is not the aperture you use, its just that a macro lens has a much narrower dof when you compare say to your 17-85 - even at f8, which I use most of the time for macro, you will get much more blur in the background than shooting f8 with the 17-85

Stan

Understood Stan, thanks.

[Reevo]

Re: January Daffodil

For what it's worth I think a "nature" shot, which this is, should look like this. If however you wanted , shall we say, a "scientific" category shot, then it does need either a plain background or picking and taken inside a studio. At the end of the day, what was it you wanted? if it was a nature shot, then I think it's pretty good.

It's not 100% what I wanted, I would like to be able to do away with the stems to the the top right of the 'main' plant.

[tigerburnie]

Re: January Daffodil

Chris Packham used to carry round a box with the front open that he would put around the plant, then take the picture through the open front. This also got rid of any wind movement, he even sprayed the plants with water so it looked like early dawn mist on the plants.