First picture post.

Got my new 30d and 100mm macro the other day. It has not stopped raining or being overcast since. Enough with the excuses, my first picture post.
C&C welcome.
Scott

I guess that no one has posted C&C for this pic is because it's a difficult one to comment on without being too discouraging, so please forgive me if I sound too harsh. My comments are intended to help rather than criticise for the sake of it.

Because a flower is pretty much static, you can take your time to frame a shot and concentrate on an interesting aspect of it, whether it's sweeping petal shapes or attractive stamen. Composition is very important. This one for instance could be improved substantially by cropping out the ugly blob on the right and maybe adopting a portrait format. But also, you've also fallen foul of the bane of macro photography everywhere, which is the narrow depth of field as you get close, and there is no obvious focal point to make up for it. To beat this with still life takes a lot of skill, either by selecting in-focus points to maximise impact or using as small an aperture as possible to increase the sharp region. By going out in dull weather and shooting with natural light you made it doubly difficult for yourself. Still, it's all good practice to familiarise yourself with the new kit.
Good luck with it, and I hope the weather improves to give you better light to work with so we can see more of your pics soon.

Thanks for the advice eccles. That's just what I was looking for. I probably should have waited to post something like this but oh well.
Shot was taken the first day my gear was out of the box(not an excuse).
The only reason I posted, was I wanted advice on how to get better.
I really don't plan on posting many pics for praise, I'm just looking for advice on how to do better.

Anything I post in the future please feel free to tell me it's terrible. Just please tell me why like eccles did if you do. I can't learn anything from an it's terrible remark.

Hi Scott,
I've just been reading Eccles's comments - and pretty much agree with him - I don't actually think there is too much technically wrong with the shot - composition could be better - I hope you don't mind but I tried the suggestion of cropping (and sharpened the shot very slightly) - I think that choosing one main flower as the subject and focusing in on that would help - I also noticed from the title that the flowers are bluebells - they do look a little "pink" - but that is a problem that can happen and may need a slight colour adjustment (assuming this species is bluer than the shot indicates?)
Most importantly enjoy your new equipment, keep practising and keep posting

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DaveBinks wrote in post #3872541
Hi Scott,
I've just been reading Eccles's comments - and pretty much agree with him - I don't actually think there is too much technically wrong with the shot - composition could be better - I hope you don't mind but I tried the suggestion of cropping (and sharpened the shot very slightly) - I think that choosing one main flower as the subject and focusing in on that would help - I also noticed from the title that the flowers are bluebells - they do look a little "pink" - but that is a problem that can happen and may need a slight colour adjustment (assuming this species is bluer than the shot indicates?)
Most importantly enjoy your new equipment, keep practising and keep posting

Thanks Dave, it does look a lot better cropped. The main problem that I had with that pic was the size of the actual flowers. They are about 1/2 inch wide.
One of my main problems is I'm trying to shoot things that are too small, too soon. I need to work on bigger things to get some experience, but that was all I had in the yard at the time.
Thanks a lot for the advice, I need it.

Scott

hello Scott just saying my 2 cents worth. maybe you should try just shooting at a different angle of the flower maybe a side view of just one instead of the whole bunch.

Bill