A variety of subjects for critique

I was wandering around the Chicago Botanic Gardens again last night and took a few pictures. All these pictures were taken with an XTi, Sigma 150mm macro f/2.8 lens, on a tripod.


A pink Rose:



http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su.../s800/pink.JPG


1/125, 2.8, ISO 400, PP: Crop, saturation.


Berries on a tree:



http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...s800/berry.JPG


1/100. 2.8. ISO 400, PP: Crop


A bird's nest:



http://lh6.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0858.JPG


1/100, 2.8, ISO 400, PP: not much. This shot was handheld, I couldn't get my tripod high enough to capture the nest.


A leaf dying:



http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...jo/s800/l1.JPG


1/13, 2.8, ISO 100 PP: a little sharpening, reduced the blue channel to eliminate some glare. (I am gonna get a polarizer for this lens soon)


The leaf again:



http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...Jc/s800/l2.JPG


1/10, 2.8, ISO 100 PP: Same as above, plus some saturation


Waterfall:



http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...s800/fall1.JPG


15", 22, ISO 100, PP: Some sharpening and levels. I am really curious as why the rocks appear a little "odd" in this picture.


Leaf on a bench:



http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0892.JPG


1/3, 2.8, ISO 100, PP: not much.


Wide shot of the bench:



http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0887.JPG


1/4, 2.8, ISO 100, PP: contrast. I took two landscape orientation of this bench and missed the focus both times! Oh well.


Flowers and Leaves:



http://lh3.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0914.JPG


1/2, 2.8, ISO 400, PP: contrast and levels.


I moved the leaf:



http://lh5.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0917.JPG


1/4, 2.8. ISO 400 PP: contrast.


Carrillon:



http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0930.JPG


1/10, 2.8, ISO 400, PP: brought the light up, some contrast, saturation.


Trees turning:



http://lh4.ggpht.com/_5rUpBITw16E/Su...0/_MG_0939.JPG


2.5", 2.8, ISO 400, PP: levels, cropping.


Any and all critiques are accepted and encouraged!


Edit: I actually got the pictures to load here now.

Great shots, I really enjoyed them. I don't think I could pick just one as a favorite, they were all good.


They all seem a little bit on the dark side, which is fine. If it were me I would probably mix in one or two high key shots to mix things up (and make the darker shots seem more dark.) Kind of like how "flowers and leaves" is brighter than "I moved the leaf".

Very nice bunch of pics
I think i liked the following more in the lot


Waterfall


Wide shot of the leaf on a bench


The last one with those colorful trees


i wish i was lucky to shoot with that lens, could have tried some of these shots with increased dof. Especially the cherries pic ... it has lovely bokeh.


Thank you for sharing :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Whatsreal

Any and all critiques are accepted and encouraged!


Edit: I actually got the pictures to load here now.

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Hi,





first of all, the colors are beautiful!


Alright you asked for my honest opinion, here it is :P


I like most of the pictures, but also don't like a few other. My question is, why you constantly use f2.8 while still using a tripod. I see some places where a little more DOF would be better. Also do you focus manually or automatically. For example, the first picture of the flower, I personally would choose another place to focus on. I think it's the core of the flower, the dark thing in the middle?, it now looks like a smudge or something due to the blur. I hoped my comment helps a little, keep in mind that it is my personal opinion so don't take it to serious. You've got to develop your own style! Good luck! I'm looking forward to see more pictures later on, real macro perhaps? :D

Thanks for the responses guys! I will get on some lighter pictures, because my general style, looking through my pictures is fairly dark.





The reason I used a low fstop on the pink rose was because it was highly windy at that time and I needed a still-fast shutter speed to freeze the rose. I also had trouble getting the rose to frame decently. The bench one was a mistake, I just forgot to change it! OOPS!


Thanks again guys!

Personally, I'm big a fan of the waterfall one and the one of the trees turning. Great work!