Doug Wolters
April 2025 - Tulip
About the Image(s)
Shot with a Canon 5D Mark III, Lensbaby Velvet 85 lens, 1/6 sec., ISO 200. From my tulip / daffo patch.
6 comments posted
Doug, I think the composition with the green stripes works very well. I think the background color should be brought down to the green of the stripes. Good luck with mastering that Lensbaby depth of field. I think it's the opposite of your focus stacking with sharpness throughout, whereas the Lensbaby Velvet needs good eyesight and practice as to where the areas of softness will look the best or where you intended. I note the sharpness of the yellow petal "tooths" in the frontal right of center and the green stripes being sharp. Possible to have the yellows of the front below the sharp teeth and area beyond the rear stripe to be more out of focus? And thereby not causing the viewer to think that you just missed the sharp focus. I'm not being critical, but thinking like most non Lensbaby viewers. I'd appreciate your comments as you work thru this. Where did you find this 1 in a million tulip? Posted: 04/13/2025 16:14:47
I rather like the drop off of focus in the green strip. Matter of taste. What I often do is stack at a low f stop, and just process those images to the point that I want in focus. The tulip came fresh out of our tulip patch. My wife plants tulips every year for use in her still lifes (direct URL: https://www.timepointsphotography.com/p679078513)
For the color of the background, what do you think of my reply to Ingrid? Posted: 04/19/2025 18:03:42
For the color of the background, what do you think of my reply to Ingrid? Posted: 04/19/2025 18:03:42
I agree with Bob on the composition. Personally I'm not a user of Lensbaby so I don't understand all the nuances of it. So what I'm seeing is about 2/3 of the image not in focus and the petal that is doesn't quite make sense to me. I think the background also distracts from the flower. Perhaps a different color or lighter green? Posted: 04/14/2025 17:23:41
Hi Doug. This is a very unique tulip and I like the viewpoint you have chosen to highlight its uniqueness. I have only attempted to use a lens baby once and was not happy with my results. You have achieved sharpness on the striped petals with the rest of the tulip ver soft, so if that was your goal, you have accomplished it. I agree that very saturated green background could be toned down to be less competition with the tulip. I like how you have softened the edge of the stem as it hits the frame. Posted: 04/17/2025 01:08:52
Seeing colors was never my forte. How do you like this? Posted: 04/19/2025 17:55:50
Doug what a beautiful tulip. I was on the verge of buying some of the white with red stripes but missed out due to its popular demand. Maybe next year.
The point of interest for this tulip is the one yellow petal with green stripes and you've captured that beautifully. It's sharp and stands out. You'll find that the green background has created what appears to be green chromatic aberration around the flower. It's even more highlighted in your revision. Very creative in selecting just the one petal.
I'm not sure if you use Lightroom or Photoshop and in any of those programs, CA can be easily removed. I do agree with Bob that you can tone down the green background to make the petal with the green strips stand out more. Very creative in selecting the one petal. Posted: 04/20/2025 10:40:10
The point of interest for this tulip is the one yellow petal with green stripes and you've captured that beautifully. It's sharp and stands out. You'll find that the green background has created what appears to be green chromatic aberration around the flower. It's even more highlighted in your revision. Very creative in selecting just the one petal.
I'm not sure if you use Lightroom or Photoshop and in any of those programs, CA can be easily removed. I do agree with Bob that you can tone down the green background to make the petal with the green strips stand out more. Very creative in selecting the one petal. Posted: 04/20/2025 10:40:10