Marge Barham
May 2023 - Cactus Bloom
About the Image(s)
Found this by accident while driving thru Jonathan's State Park in Florida. I got down low to show the bud still to come.
Taken with Canon Rebel XT, setting were f5.6, 1/100 sec and ISO 100.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted
(Group 63)
I appreciate your efforts to shown us several stages of the life-cycle of this flower. Showing both the open bloom as well as the bud tells this story. It is unfortunate that you cut off a bit of the bloom on the left-hand side. The bud is also present in this shot, but with the aperture used (f/5.6 resulting in a rather shallow depth-of-field), the detail of this bud is lost and it's role in the story diminished. I find that the crop of this image includes a lot of area at the top that adds little to the image. Here I would crop down from the top, add more space on the felt hand side and clone in background element to fill the newly added area (also moving the edge of the bloom away from the edge). The bloom itself is a bit overexposed (yellow is a tough color not to overexpose slightly), and I might suggest adding a bit of contrast to bring out the native color and detail. I have included a version of this image which demonstrates my thinking. See what you think. Posted: 05/08/2023 15:26:38
(Groups 38 & 91)
Thank you Charles for sharing your knowledge. I will have to learn how to add the extra space on the left and try harder with the yellow flowers.
Posted: 05/20/2023 18:54:20
Posted: 05/20/2023 18:54:20
Hi Marge: Charlie has made some improvements to your flower picture which have helped a lot.
Did notice in your data the shutter speed was 1/100 second; it is very difficult to obtain really sharp flower pictures such as this one with a slower shutter speed of 1/100 second hand held which you likely did. If you were tripod mounted with no wind you could easily shoot at a much slower speed and obtain a really sharp image. Would suggest you use a tripod for these kinds of images, you will attain much sharper results. Posted: 05/10/2023 01:27:08
Did notice in your data the shutter speed was 1/100 second; it is very difficult to obtain really sharp flower pictures such as this one with a slower shutter speed of 1/100 second hand held which you likely did. If you were tripod mounted with no wind you could easily shoot at a much slower speed and obtain a really sharp image. Would suggest you use a tripod for these kinds of images, you will attain much sharper results. Posted: 05/10/2023 01:27:08
(Groups 38 & 91)
Thank you Murphy for sharing your helpful thoughts.
Posted: 05/20/2023 18:56:36
Posted: 05/20/2023 18:56:36
Marge, I agree with the comments you received in terms of the crop and depth of field plus adding some contrast to the flower. I like the thought behind the composition and kudos for getting low and hand holding the camera at that shutter speed - definitely a worthy subject. Ray
. Posted: 05/10/2023 19:54:53
. Posted: 05/10/2023 19:54:53
(Groups 38 & 91)
Thank you Ray for your comments. Yes it was a worthy subject, that's what caught my eye. Maybe next time I will shoot it better keeping in mind all the help from you all. Posted: 05/20/2023 18:59:41
I like the contrast of the 2 flowers (flower and bud), with a "leaf" between them. The suggestion of Charles improve the picture (all the leaves and crop on the top). A real pleasure and added-value to have such member in a group....
With aperture at 5,6, not easy to have enough DoF for the pistils.
To increase your speed, if you have no tripod on hand, you could increase the iso. ISO 400 would have allow, in this case, a speed of 1/400. Posted: 05/15/2023 15:56:40
With aperture at 5,6, not easy to have enough DoF for the pistils.
To increase your speed, if you have no tripod on hand, you could increase the iso. ISO 400 would have allow, in this case, a speed of 1/400. Posted: 05/15/2023 15:56:40
(Groups 38 & 91)
Thank you Vincent for your comments.
Posted: 05/20/2023 19:01:23
Posted: 05/20/2023 19:01:23