C & C please

[a race fan]

I'm thinking about (and been wanting to) do a series of flower shots.
Please C&C as you see warranted, even opinions.
I need the insight and technical direction, if you know what I mean.
Thanks for looking,
Barry

1 - least favorite of the bunch

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775505-L.jpg

2 - this one is not the same composition :( (thought I got one with the stem)

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775510-L.jpg

3

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775519-L.jpg

4

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775526-L.jpg

[a race fan]

5

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775529-L.jpg

6

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775532-L.jpg

7

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775535-L.jpg

8 -infrared of previous

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142775552-L.jpg

9

http://barryc.smugmug.com/photos/142777342-L.jpg

[te1221]

I like 3-7 the best but I think I like 3 the most.

To me 1 doesn't appeal to me, and #2 I think it was cropped too tightly with only the center of the flower in focus, unless you intended it that way.

Good job though... Was this shot with a black cloth behind the flowers? Natural light or flash? You got me curious :D

[fionndruinne]

Hmm. Nice, but I think a couple of shots could benefit from a little more exposure (they're a little dark). Also the contrast seems a tad much - using a black background, there's naturally more contrast to the eye, and for me at least, very vivid colors against black seem slightly unaesthetic.

Just my $0.02. Keep up the good work.

[nqjudo]

Technically I think they are all pretty nice. I am not nuts about flowers against a totally black background but that's just a personal preference.

[danielg]

Those are wonderful shots!! Beautiful!

[toriaj]

You have some great shots here. Very good focus. I see some noise in the background on #4, 5, and 9. The white flowers seem to "lose their punch" though. Maybe it's the contrast against the black. My favorites are #3 and #6. They look well exposed to me, and interesting colors.

[a race fan]

I shot all these with a black piece of cloth thumb-tacked to the wall, and used either the 430EX or a desk lamp with a 25w bulb, or both.

Exposing these was the trickiest part. I intentionally shot with the black background because I want to take 4-6 of them and put them in a frame to hang on the wall. Maybe as a gift to my Mom for mothers day or something.

Thanks for all the input everyone. The daisy (tight crop) was actually shot a month or so ago and I tried to get just the center of the flower in focus. After looking at it I decided I needed to get some stem in the shot and decided to re-shoot.

The others I wanted to get all of the flower in focus and shot almost all of them in the 20-25 range aperture.

My thought was to get the flower (bulb) in focus and the stem to "show" up...
I shot these in RAW and had to do some WB adjusting and use the curves some to get the contrast where I wanted it (I'm still not very good at using those tools).
My favorite is #5, I think mainly becuase of the colors, it really jumps out of the black background.

Thanks again everyone for the input, it is appreciated.

[JMWallace]

I think you did pretty darn good!! I like the DOF use on the white gerb. I am with the other poster. I think they could be pushed up about a stop and maybe boost the color saturation up a bit to really make them pop!

[coldrain]

I like the orange rose with water drops and the carnation (your least favorite) best.
With the gerbera, clone out the metal support wire. The white rose's composition does not really work, the flower itself should be a bit higher in the frame.

What I do not like is the cold and sterile light you have created, probably by using the flash too. Try taking photos just with a light bulb and on a tripod, so the light will get less sterile and more interesting....

Here are a few tries by myself, just using the light of a light bulb in the house as light source (you can not do this in Australia since they have banned the light bulb :eek: :D so you would have to make do with harsh fluorecent light...). They were taken at night, using the black of the night as background.
I know these are not like what you have in mind, but I think they do illustrate that different lighting can make them less sterile, more interesting and most of all more vibrant.

[forno]

I really like the black background you guys are doing with these

[michaelb]

Barry....not bad for a first attempt.

Coldrain....I agree with your comments regarding the lighting....very nice work by the way.