Hello, Dale!

When composing and registering this type of subject, it is very critical certain aspects are maintained to reveal an engaging image: I will suggest, 1. too much out-of-focus sections, 2. and extreme Highlights can foster the spectator to nod and move on to the next image. These two factors are also amplified due to the subjects (almost complete) lack of detailed focus.

Now I am not a fan of using the "structure" slider, but in fact, most of the "revealed" structure (or leaf detail) was accomplished with adjusting the over-all exposure, including desaturation of color, though it looks like I did. However .....

... the B&W version does have a (selected) exposure Mod dead-center of the Rose where I increased "Fine Structure" to help bring focus to the center, though complete focus/clarity is not necessary. Also, converting to B&W helped achieve more detail and seemingly lower the brightness (Highlights) that, in my opinion, was interfering with the overall composition in the original color version. (Note I made a Square Crop)

  Posted: 05/03/2023 13:36:54

What is a structure slider? What post processing are you using? The BW version is much more appealing to me.   Posted: 05/05/2023 13:54:05

Hi Dale,

A beautiful rose! Focus is tricky with flowers - I've seen some where only a small portion is in focus and some where the whole flower is softly and dreamily out of focus. Yours is somewhere in between. Lightroom offers a lot of options to lower the highlights and improve clarity, etc. Since you are just starting with flowers you will want to experiment with different types of exposure and focus as well as different types of postprocessing. Looking at other people's flower photos can give one lots of ideas. Flowers are beautiful and convenient and they mostly stand still, so a good choice for practicing photographic and processing skills. I've almost convinced myself to get back out there and photograph them!   Posted: 05/05/2023 15:07:29

Nice image - great color/depth - in something so small. Agree when photographing flowers (especially inside with no wind) - it's a perfect opportunity to practice manual focus on specific parts of the flower - also varying the f-stop to get a range of depths of field. I like Lance's edits - including the B&W. I'm always amazed that B&W images of colorful flowers can be so beautiful. Your image, coincident with the arrival of Spring, motivates me to photograph flowers!   Posted: 05/06/2023 03:42:40

Congratulations on being willing to experiment with something new. I am planning to start in the near future experimenting with close-up photography. You did not mention if you were on a tripod, or handholding. At f/4.0 you have a very shallow DOF. It seems not possible to get overall sharp focus on the rose. You would need to do some focus staking. The overly bright highlights on the edge of the center peddles are, to me, the biggest problem. I do like the B&W image from Lance.   Posted: 05/06/2023 13:36:46

I haven't read all the comments above so excuse me if I repeat someone. I have been working on leveling up my flower photography also. Moving out of the representational phase with stacked images, I learned that not everything needs to be in focus. But in this case, I think not enough is in focus, and fixing it with the texture slider isn't enough. You can see that there is only a narrow band of focus in the middle of the petal on the right. Fortunately this is an experiment you can try again and again until you are happy.   Posted: 05/06/2023 15:23:44