[Ali]

Taken today in the garden.



Please let me know what you think - brutal honesty would be appreciated

[Chilliman]

I think if the stamens ( i think thats what their called) had been a bit sharper the the photo would have been perfect.

[AQ]

I agree with Chilliman about the stamens. Having them pin sharp would have made a lot of difference.

I not sure that the greenish parts of the background in the upper left and lower right do anything for it. I would have preferred it if these corners had been more like the upper right. Not totally uniform but mainly purple.

The more I look at it the less sure I am about the front out of focus petal. I am starting to think that it is too dominant.

Overall I think that there is a very good picture to be had somewhere but perhaps it is not quite this one. Perhaps a slightly higher viewpoint. The focus is critical though.

[Markulous]

Sharpness and stalk coming out of the bottom corner would've improved

[Charlotte]

Now, I can handle 'arty farty' flowers a lot better than I can handle 'arty farty' horses

I love this I love artistic flower shots with a shallow DoF, this is my kind of image

The composition is maybe a bit square-on. Perhaps a slight CCW rotation would improve the comp, so long as you don't lose much of the flower.

Love the colours, but not sure about the green top corner. On one hand I like it 'cos it gives context, i.e. in the garden, but on the other it's looks the odd man out; jury's still out on this one.

I like the softness. Not all images have to be pin-sharp. Flower shots lend themselves well to soft focus effects giving them a romantic feel.

This is a super image Ali with lots of potential + possibilities, well done

[Ali]

Thanks all

Um, yes, the sharpness - oops! I must admit I thought it looked a fair bit sharper than that in the original but it's certainly not crips by any means! I don't think I'd be able to get all the stamens pin sharp with such shallow DOF but I will certainly be trying again.

Markulous - the stalk; when you say coming out of the bottom corner would improve, could you explain a little more please?

[Markulous]

Now that I've done this I'm not too sure about what I have done! Oh well, the principles still hold good:



Stalk out of corner (makes for a more dynamic subject), stamens on the 'golden third' (1/3rd in and 1/3rd down)
Sharpened stamens (but deeper DOF would be better!)

[Charlotte]

Love that, Mark

[Ali]

Ah! Now I see what you mean! Nice one, thank you