Would like some help choosing a pic

Trying to decide which of these pics work best. I like each for different reasons, but if you had to pic one or two to go with, which would you choose? Comments & suggestions are welcomed!

Cat's Eye

I really like the last two photos.

Are you able to get in closer to the Aphid in the third shot? If not that's fine it just seems as though the Aphid is your focus or subject but its image (the Aphid) is not all that clear. If so see if you can get a clean shot of it to see if that improves the photo.

In the last shot the two drops of water off center appear to be the focus. The image itself pops, but someone is bound to comment on the bottom right side being a distraction, but it looks fine to me.

Cat's eye for me.

The macro shots are not as good, but only due to the inherrent difficulties in shooting macro.

semi-fly wrote in post #7895150
I really like the last two photos.

Are you able to get in closer to the Aphid in the third shot? If not that's fine it just seems as though the Aphid is your focus or subject but its image (the Aphid) is not all that clear. If so see if you can get a clean shot of it to see if that improves the photo.

In the last shot the two drops of water off center appear to be the focus. The image itself pops, but someone is bound to comment on the bottom right side being a distraction, but it looks fine to me.

Thanks for the comment. I've played with that aphid photo a bit and can't get it like I want it. I guess I didn't do a good enough job on the original photo. I thought about cropping it more, but I wanted to put it in perspective to where it was on the rose bud.

This is the latest version... mostly played with color levels on it:

skygod44 wrote in post #7895157
Cat's eye for me.
The macro shots are not as good, but only due to the inherrent difficulties in shooting macro.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I keep coming back to the cat, too. All of them are macro shots, even the cat. I was limited as to what aperture I could use which made things a little more difficult. I was shooting for 2 different assignments, both related to macro.

Your last shot in post #4 does not show up for me

The cat's eye is pretty good but I think you missed the focus by a smidge.

I like the Abstract Flower Petals - but think it would work better without that front petal.

I'm really liking the aphid -- the shadow is cool and the implied path up the rose makes this for me.

The drops on the iris is a nice shot but it's way too busy I think.

Cat's eye would be my pick as well. It's just too bad the cats pupil isn't more vertical.

And for what it's worth, I prefer your first edit of the aphid.
I like the more natural colors of the rose.

Thanks for the comments. I don't know why those links don't work sometimes. Here's the iris one with the vingette. It's still a bit busy, but I don't think I could've gotten those extra drops off without disturbing the two at the top.

Hard to recommend them without knowing what for... but in the end the winners are clear enough it probably doesn't matter....

#1: Good shot... touch more DOF would have been nice.

#2: Nice shot, but ultimately limited interest.

#3: Great shot... love the (first version posted's) colour, texture and perspective.

#4: Bit busy, with no particular areas providing satisfying detail that you can look at for long. I do like the foreground bokeh (not a contradiction ;P) - seems almost crystalline in parts, but the mid and background are a bit dull.

So, #1 and #3 for me too.

Cheers, Tony

cats eye

#3, but it looks like you did artificial blurring on the photo since there should be more in focus than there actually appears to be.

It's hard to choose as we're comparing apples to oranges (or cats to aphids). But overall, I'd have to go with #1. Runner-up, perhaps #2, though some color might add further interest to that one.

Many thanks to all for the comments. My original task was to go shoot macro at only 2.8, so I was seeing what I could come up with for 2 different forums with a macro theme.

The original aphid on the rose shot ended up being my first choice (and no, there was no artificial blurring on it. It was shot at 2.8 as all these were). I actually came really close to picking the cat as my second choice, but I agree that the DOF should've been a little deeper to make it a better shot and the center of the eye should've been more in focus. If I'd done that at 2.8, the fur around the eye would not have been sharp as it is now. Plus a moving cat made it challenging!

I ended up using the iris shot as my second choice with more tweaking to blur/smooth the foreground so the 2 drops in the middle stood out more. Here was the final version.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Awesome job on that Lisa!

I tried my cat a 2.8 and I can tell you that you did a far better job than I!!

monty28428 wrote in post #7916276
Awesome job on that Lisa!

Thanks, Monty! I got a new Wacom tablet and got to give it a workout on that shot of the iris.

monty28428 wrote in post #7916282
I tried my cat a 2.8 and I can tell you that you did a far better job than I!!

You didn't see all the ones I missed focus on. This was the best of the bunch.