A few flowers

[Aaron Peabody]

I'd love to get a critique of these four pictures I took yesterday. All are shot with a Canon 40D and EF 28-135mm IS lens. Thanks.

P.S. You can click on any of the photos to see a much larger version.

http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_small/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5275.jpg (http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_large/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5275.jpg)
1/160 • ISO 400 • +0.3ev • f/5.6 • 135mm

http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_small/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5281.jpg (http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_large/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5281.jpg)
1/1600 • ISO 400 • +0.3ev • f/5.6 • 135mm

http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_small/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5298.jpg (http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_large/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5298.jpg)
1/1600 • ISO 400 • +0.3ev • f/5.6 • 28mm

http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_small/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5299.jpg (http://halley-peabody.com/ljgwynn/flowers_20100401_large/Flowers%20at%20U%20Village%202010-04-01%20_MG_5299.jpg)
1/2000 • ISO 400 • +0.3ev • f/5.6 • 28mm

[tonydee]

They're all quite good. The first two seem a little dark. #1 doesn't really have anything to focus attention (except your signature) - for me, an insect, small bird etc would lift the interest level. In #2, one flower dominates, which helps. #3 and #4 are quite creative, have that bit extra brightness - a fresher look. #3 nearly works - some good elements in the fern at left, levels of depth, but the foreground flower just looks a bit too disconnected (i.e. almost pasted on, more of the stem might have helped) and the middle bit becomes kind of heavy and unbalanced. In #4 everything seems to be leaning away a bit (due to the upward angle to the camera)... I imagine a squarer ratio and level camera working better... don't feel you have to stick to the side ratios the camera offers... there's nothing magically correct about them - for example, many older cameras had 4:5 ratios... shoot looser and crop.

Cheers,
Tony

[dche5390]

#1 is fantastic.
#2 suffers from an odd angle
#3 shame that you were too close to the flower as its OOF due to your 28-135's MFD
#4 way too busy ... doesn't do it for me (but the colours are nice)

[Aaron Peabody]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Some of the things you mention were specific choices on my part, others are things I'll have to think about.