C&C from four flowers

[nilomis]

This weekend I went to my hometown and took some pics from our backyard.

This garden was maintained by my late father-in-law and he had a great taste.

I hope that my capture reflects the beauty of those flowers:

(All pics with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (hand held), Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, processed with Apple Aperture 3.1)

1) Roses

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1119/5114563124_1d07178d62_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nilomis/5114563124/)

1/100s
f/8.0
Focal Length 109 mm
ISO 100

Note: Believe it or not but the color was not enhanced, in fact I did a small saturation reduction!

2) "Wax" flower

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1257/5114564132_ec1e17fe56_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nilomis/5114564132/)

Exposure 1/100s
f/7.1
Focal Length 112 mm
ISO 320
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV

3) A rose with a dash of ... pink

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1218/5114565132_c9f4824183_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nilomis/5114565132/)

1/60s
f/7.1
Focal Length 122 mm
ISO 160
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV

4) A pure rose

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1173/5113964339_31e954cba9_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nilomis/5113964339/)

1/100s
f/10.0
Focal Length 117 mm
ISO 160
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV

Comments, please.

Cheers

[rw2]

Well done!

[corkneyfonz]

Last looks very nice.

[nilomis]

Thanks to all.

The last one is also my favorite.

Cheers

[vpnd]

imho they look way overprocessed.

[nilomis]

imho they look way overprocessed.
I agree with #3 but all others were a consequence of the light. The sun was rising (on the right) and the resulting light is what it was.

On #1, even the pure RAW, is very saturated. What I did was to reduce the saturation a little.

Don't know if this is just caused by the sun or by the camera itself. I'm new to full frame and I'm still learning how to tame color with the 5D.

Other issue that I have is that when I upload my pics to Flickr, there is a noticeable change on several parameters, even when I use the Adobe RGB profile.

Thanks

[thuyhpham]

Sharp photographs, but I feel like something is missing. I think if the background was more interesting, the flowers would pop more.

[nilomis]

Sharp photographs, but I feel like something is missing. I think if the background was more interesting, the flowers would pop more.

I agree that a better background could make the pics pop but they are on my family garden and they are unmovable.

In any case I will try to pay more attention to the background.

Cheers

[nilomis]

Pic #1, no processing (except for an adjustment crop).

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1119/5117877117_2d2d4645d3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nilomis/5117877117/)

Looks better?

[vpnd]

yes, try using levels and expanding the dynamic range a bit

[nilomis]

Thanks. I did but the result does not look natural.
Notice that I'm not a Photoshop user and I do all processing using only Apple Aperture.