[Rob Barron]

I love the beautfy of flora but have never taken a lot of flower shots, just a few now and again. I would therefore appreciate some help and feedback here. Here are some of my questions:

Does the differential focus work well enough or does the front flower clash with the one behind?

I deliberately left greenery around the flower as I didn't want a tight crop but what do others think?

What is the name of this flower? It is an osteospermum which YOU who are lacking in simple botanical knowledge <g> might know as a Cape Daisy. I just thought I'd put that in to show how clever i am.... at reading Actually, thanks to tkblueyonder who informed us of this flower's name. The thing about Pixalo is the new things we learn every day. I'll never forget an osteo....whatsit again <g>

All feedback gratefully received
Cheers,
Rob

[Angela]

I think this works really well Rob. The crop is fine and I think the flower in front is enough in focus to stop it merging with the one behind. Good stuff!!

And I have no idea what it is!

[namllihs]

Crop, exposure, focus all o/k, the only thing I would change is the relationship between the foreground and background flowers, I would have them slightly more offset.

Sorry no idea what it is.

[tkblueyonder]

The flower is an "Osteospermum" or better known as a "Cape Daisy" it originates from South Africa and comes in a variety of colours and varies in shape a little to between varieties. If you visit you local garden centre in spring they are packed to the brim with these

Fabulous shot it is too

[Mr Blue Sky]

i like this pic its pleasing to the eye, very nice. the front flower stands out enough to seperate it from the rest of the flowers and the background.
the only thing which pulls my eye away from the flower is the small area of background
behind the top flower which is lighter and a slightly different colour than the rest of the background.
i wouldnt have a clue what this flower (or any other flower!)is called!

[fionaB]

cape daisy...........

love it, i think there is more than enough difference in the focussing for it to work well and work well it does. I do see what Mr BlueSky means about the different colour of background but on the other hand in nature there is a wide variety of tones and colours and so i think its fine as it is.

Fi

[nichpr]

Nice color rendition here, Rob. I'd be willing to bet you didn't notice that bit of yellow at the top until post processing - it unfortunately distracts one's eye from the subject. I would concur with namllihs about offsetting the two flowers for additional impact.
You don't really have flowers blooming this time of year in Dorset, do you?
- Paul

[silver]

the dark splotchy background is a distraction to me, perhaps a more even light green background would be interesting to see

Sil

[daveyuk]

I like it, I like the way the flower head stands out from the background. You should chuffed with this one.

[Rob Barron]

LOL Paul, we do have flowers blooming but definitely not Cape Daisies! Just the usual things like snowdrops, crocuses, primroses, etc. Sadly some are coming up too soon so if we get a very cold spell we might lose them all but it's lovely to see some colour around. I noticed in my garden today that daffodils are already opening which again is a few weeks too early so I just hope we continue with the mild weather as I love seeing ther trumpets of daffodils when they are covering the banks of the river and so forth.

Silver: I didn't choose the 'dark splody background', it is the natural background of foliage that was there. I feel if I took that out and put an even toned green it would look like what it would be: false. Anyone else think the BG should be changed?

Thanks all for the encouragement, I will maybe post a couple of other floral efforts and see what you think to them. The beauty of nature intrigues me but as a mere human I feel it is so difficult to do justice to such intricate detail and colour that is all around me. God sure is one colourful artist

Just as a side issue (it's my thread so I don't feel I am hijacking it here) does anyone have any other type of photography that you always feel is hard to do it proper justice? Does that make you try harder to capture it or do you sometimes leave it alone and just enjoy the scene with your eyes?

Cheers,
Rob

[silver]

I wasn't suggesting a non natural background or any kind of photoshopping of the image btw I would just have liked to see a more even background

Sil

[skipper954]

I am really conflicted about this image, Rob.

My first impression was that the flower stood out TOO much. (Think butterfly). It seemed a bit disconnected, and I couldn't pick out a stem to which it anchored.

However, if you broaded the dof, the flower blends in too much with the bg.

OK, if you move your angle of shooting to offset the flower from those in the bf, you lose the full frontal effect of the flower.

So, I suppose that we have 2 options, one a tight crop which may or may not work, and 2, go back if you can and reshoot with different composition.

skip

ps...for some reason, I composed this in msword, and pasted here, and was unable to go through. When I composed this here, it (hopefully) was processed. Any thoughts? I know, off topic, but youth wants to know.