Karen Botvin
March 2025 - Chinese Lantern
Original
About the Image(s)
This photo was taken last March at one of Florida’s Botanical gardens. It was shot handheld with my Nikon using a 105mm macro lens. The camera settings were ISO 400, f/5.0 at 1/100 sec. Not much was done in the way of editing. Dropped the highlights a bit and increased the shadows slightly. I removed the empty stem in the top left and cropped into a square. I added the faintly stroke in PS. Comments always appreciated.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
Nice image, Karen. VERY pretty flower!!
We all know about the limited depth of Field with a macro lens. This is a beautiful flower with lots to love about it. One of the most interesting aspects of it, to me, are the veins in each petal. The crimson veins on orange/yellow petals look like blood vessels in the human body. The green cap has a wonderful shape and texture to it as well.
In this case, I think that the f5 aperture you used was too limiting in order to have the petals in focus - as well as the reproductive parts. A smaller aperture would have then required a faster shutter speed and higher ISO.
I love the square crop and the internal frame. Posted: 03/04/2025 20:50:36
We all know about the limited depth of Field with a macro lens. This is a beautiful flower with lots to love about it. One of the most interesting aspects of it, to me, are the veins in each petal. The crimson veins on orange/yellow petals look like blood vessels in the human body. The green cap has a wonderful shape and texture to it as well.
In this case, I think that the f5 aperture you used was too limiting in order to have the petals in focus - as well as the reproductive parts. A smaller aperture would have then required a faster shutter speed and higher ISO.
I love the square crop and the internal frame. Posted: 03/04/2025 20:50:36
Thanks, Jim, for your observations. I rarely shoot flowers with a smaller f stop as my style is not to have my flowers crispy sharp. I think that takes away from their delicateness. That said, as Piers pointed out, my focus should have been on the veins of the closest petal and not on the stamen and then possibly change my f stop slightly. Otherwise, photo stacking is the only option to still get the bokeh that I wanted. Posted: 03/11/2025 14:09:55
The diagonal slant and the orange, yellow and dark green against the lighter green background is striking and beautiful in a minimalistic sense. The stroke is well-placed, but it is a great image without it. The stamen seems to be the sharp point but agree the veins could possibly be sharper - did you try the sharpen tool in PS? Posted: 03/05/2025 12:45:35
Thanks so much for your comments, Piers. You are correct in that my focus would have been better placed on the veins of the closest petal, rather than on the stamen. I will try the sharpen tool and see what I get. Otherwise, I'll look for another Chinese Lantern to photograph again. This was shot handheld as I walked past it. When shooting flowers, I know that I should spend time with each flower and shoot it from all angles, as well as different focus points. Lesson learned. Posted: 03/11/2025 14:15:39
A beautiful specimen, Karen, and you have done well in only limiting the color pallet to the two colors with the beautiful bokeh. My first reaction was like Jim's. Looks like blood vessels! A bit of a challenge to have everything in focus that would also have the important bokeh. Nice framing. Posted: 03/08/2025 16:10:23
Thank you, Shirley. As I said above to Jim, photo stacking is always an option. One just needs the patience. Posted: 03/11/2025 14:17:46
I love the colours in this image.
I agree with Jim about the depth of field. The nearest petal to the camera looks a "tad" soft.
The experts might suggest that you could try to "focus stack", but using a smaller aperture might have done the trick as Jim suggested Posted: 03/16/2025 22:59:51
I agree with Jim about the depth of field. The nearest petal to the camera looks a "tad" soft.
The experts might suggest that you could try to "focus stack", but using a smaller aperture might have done the trick as Jim suggested Posted: 03/16/2025 22:59:51