Low hanging flower

[Loz :D]

A large number of firsts in the post! Its one of the first times I've shot in RAW, it's also the first time I've used DPP. No other processing has been done so far (Light Room & PSE have been ordered tonight. ). It was also the first outing with my spanky new Sigma 30mm f1.4 prime on my 400D.
Shot taken at the Winter Garden in Sheffield, btw.

Any critique appreciated.

[taffy]

Re: Low hanging flower

Hi' what a very nice picture of the flower, great colour.Mark

[jonesgj]

Re: Low hanging flower

Hi Loz, thanks for sharing. The focus seems a little soft and the bright areas in the bokeh are a little distracting to me. Could you have moved you position to recompose? Was there a breeze causing the flower to move? Its always useful to share your settings as you may get some useful tips and feed back. Hope this all helps... Kind regards, Graydon

[Loz :D]

Re: Low hanging flower

Sorry Graydon some info would be helpful wouldn't it...

Tv(Shutter Speed): 1/500Sec.
Av(Aperture Value): F1.4
Metering Modes: Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation: 0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: 30mm
Focal Length: 30.0 mm
Image Quality: RAW
Flash: Off
White Balance: Auto
AF mode: AI focus AF
Picture Style: Standard

I set the the AF to to manual point selection & tried to pick out the centre of the flower, I was shooting by hand & was indoors at the time.

In DPP I set,
Colour tone to 1
Colour Saturation to 2
Sharpness to 5

[jonesgj]

Re: Low hanging flower

Loz,

The only things I would wonder about are F1.4 and ISO 100. I’m no photo guru (learning myself, really) but try this.

For most static subjects I use Av (Aperture Priority)

Set ISO to 400 for hand held situations where the light is reasonable.

Even though your lens has that wonderful large aperture, you may not need to have it wide open to capture the detail and sharpness required or to give you the bokeh (out of focus area) behind. Having a slightly smaller aperture would give you more opportunity to get more of the subject in focus, and therefore more opportunity for your picture to be sharper. You can also get a nice bokeh if the background is further from you subject.

I usually shoot RAW and leave exposure comp to -1:you can quite often recover shade but burnt-out data is gone. This correction is accomplished using a program such as Adobe Camera Raw.

If the light is better I would consider reducing the ISO value.

I was given this advice when I started after weeks of shooting lots of fuzzy pictures and found it really useful.

You may also want to read up on how to use your * button which will allow you to temporarily lock your exposure light meter evaluation.

Another good book, highly recommended is “Understanding Exposure” by Bryan Peterson (Revised edition)

For those large areas of white: I think you have to consider this when composing your shot. For me they are a distraction.

Before pressing the shutter I try and check for distractions, rule of thirds and the edges of the frame. I don’t always get it right! :)

I have some more information you may find useful here.

I hope you find this advice useful. Please let me know.

Kind regards

Graydon

[hhcanon]

Re: Low hanging flower

Sound advice Graydon. May I add also take dozens at different settings and look at the difference.
hh

[jonesgj]

Re: Low hanging flower

Hi Loz, Sorry if you know all this....

Yes reviewing is key.

[Hereford_EOS2]

Re: Low hanging flower

Loz,

The only things I would wonder about are F1.4 and ISO 100. I’m no photo guru (learning myself, really)

Graydon

Nice image and a good first shot with the new Sigma f/1.4.
I agree with Graydon in respect of the f/1.4 setting (btw some great advice from Graydon)

[Loz :D]

Re: Low hanging flower

Thanks Grayden,
That's very helpful, I think I got my self a bit mixed up with my ISO's I was also shooting on f1.4 because I thought that would be best for hand held shots, I can now see that wasn't a great assumption.

Thanks for the link to your site it's a great help.

It's a shame there's no 'Add Rep' facility on this forum, in two threads I've had some cracking advice.