Flower Images, How to make them better

[mr.photoguy]

when I am shooting flowers, I would love to hear some of your criticism on how I could frame my images of flowers better. I really want to get a feel for other perspectives on this sort of images. I really like to do beds of flowers, but just haven't seen this where I live.
Any tips on compensation, or aperature settings would be very helpful. I will be including some images as reference to what I have recently shot.
Camera: 20D Lens: Tamron 28-75 f2.8
1st image..
http://www.pbase.com/brucescott/image/42012749.jpg
This was taken at work. The area of flowers was not a big area..
exif: 1/640s f/10.0 at 35.0mm iso400

2nd Image
http://www.pbase.com/brucescott/image/41851498.jpg
This was taken @ 18th street, and union square. A nice bed of flowers..
exif: 1/2500s f/2.8 at 75.0mm iso400

3rd image
http://www.pbase.com/brucescott/image/41851495.jpg
Another set from 18th street @ union Square..
exif: 1/320s f/6.3 at 75.0mm iso400
Should I have used more aperture, for more DOF?

These were all taken on bright sunny days, with the Tamron, with lens hood. Please let me know what you think of the composition, or anything..

Thanks so much.
http://www.pbase.com/brucescott/flowers

[mr.photoguy]

ok I see 11 views.
Look you don't have to be a pro to respond you know.
I only bite on Tuesdays.. hahaha..

[darylsrowland]

I really like the 2nd one... it seems somehow less 'busy' than the others. I think it's important when shooting flowers to see the details. With 2 you can definitely do this... and you've blurred the background which makes it look nice. The other two are good but my eye doesn't know what to look at.


Did any of that make sense? :confused:

[darylsrowland]

I'm not a pro by the way... but as it's not Tuesday thought it was safe to reply ;)

[paul r]

ok my first ever post, and im not going to be any use to you at all:( just to say if i had taken the pictures i would be very pleased.But im sure someone will come along and give you the answers you are looking for

[PhotosGuy]

The best way to shoot these, & it's not as easy as it looks, is to look at some other posts in the forum & when you see something you like ask how it was done. JZuan usually has some specatular flower (& other) images.
Best advice I can give you that works for me is to try to isolate a few flowers, get down to their level & get in close. (For a start!) Shoot at (usually) a wider aperture to isolare it from the background.
Here's one that I just posted:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=69072

[Titus213]

Mr.Photoguy -
I took this yesterday. Don't know what she was shooting but it has to be an interesting perspective. I'd love to see the end results.

As you can see, I like my flowers in large groups...it helps me keep some of them in focus.

[PhotosGuy]

I like my flowers in large groups...it helps me keep some of them in focus. :D

I know what you mean. That's a nice shot. I never see that many together at one time, so I guess that's why I do close-ups.

[mr.photoguy]

I really like the 2nd one... it seems somehow less 'busy' than the others. I think it's important when shooting flowers to see the details. With 2 you can definitely do this... and you've blurred the background which makes it look nice. The other two are good but my eye doesn't know what to look at.


Did any of that make sense? :confused:

yes! it did make a lot of sense.
Thank you very much for repling, I really appreciate it. I do agree that the 1st, and 2nd images are to busy, in that it is hard to focus on any one flower...

something for me to think about next time I am out shooting.

[mr.photoguy]

PhotosGuy:
Thank you for the response.
I will definetly try shooting at more wide open Apertures more often.
I wish I could find a bed of flowers to shoot, I am still looking though.
This is the first time that I have ever truly tried my hand at shooting flowers.

Titus213:
Thanks for the responce also.
That is a nice photo/candid you took there, With that long of a zoom, she can get a tulip pretty far in, and not have to interupt the batch of flowers, because we know that she can't just step in there. . lol..
I really wish I could find a batch of flowers like that here..