Newb lookin' to learn

dreamline wrote in post #4042309
This forum is one of the best places to learn. The amount of posts that are made every day that contain a wealth of information.

I do not simply mean the written comments, but the subjects that are posted as well. The angles used, the lighting, focus points, framing etc.

When you see a shot that you really like, ask yourself why it works. If there's something about it you'd like to know, type a response and ask the poster. They'll be delighted to help.

Bill has summed the philosophy up nicely. I have had posts that have had no comments, and I tried to learn from these.

Now, the problem with using flowers as a macro subject is twofold:

Firstly it is difficult to make a lot of flowers 'interesting' from a macro concept, especially if they are common. It takes either an unusual angle/lighting or an extreme close up to hold a viewer interest.

Secondly, they are a starter subject for a lot of people. They are abundant and easy to shoot. Which means there are a lot of them posted...

This is not to say all flower shots are boring, it just takes something out of the ordinary to hold a person's attention.

Having got that out of the way, we come to the point that I do not feel comfortable about - giving negative feedback. Perhaps if I was a master photographer myself, I wouldn't worry so much, but I doubt that would make a difference. Anyway...

Out of the 2, #1 is in my opinion the best, but the stamens in the centre are OOF. This is because you are using f/2.8 which gives a very narrow depth of field. You need to try and get this up to around f/11 or higher, especially with macro shots. Sometimes even a small aperture will not give enough DOF and you will need to resort to stacking. (LordV has written an excellent tutorial on this. A search for 'stacking' and 'LordV' should bring up loads of links) You can also try and isolate a feature of a plant (such as the stamens). These can be brought into sharp focus with a blurred background to add interest.

You will probably find it useful to invest in a flash. This will help keep the shutter speed up at smaller apertures and minimize movement both from the subject and the taker.

I think I've rambled on enough already, so I'll finish here. Please do not take any of this as a personal attack, I am simply trying to state why replies might have been thin on the ground.

Now get out there and start shooting. Look at the posts amde on here for ideas, and let's see some more of your work.