Please Critique - All Advice Highly Appreciated!

Well, since I won't be able to practice some more outside until the weekend, last night I thought I'd try out my new macro lens and practice on some flowers inside and start thinking spring [:D]


I know it looks simple enough but it was challenging for me to get the right balance for the light pink to not be too white or peachy and keep the true color of the red rose.


Rebel T1i, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro L IS, Speedlite 580EX II Flash, 1/200, f/4, ISO 200, uncropped


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Taken RaW?


Personally it's good framing the colour needs to be WOW especially the Red Rose.The PINK rose it seems over expose..?Overall your areheading the right direction WELL DONE.

I like it, simple, solid colors, and shapes. The Babys Breath in the foreground kinda of distracts though, but thats it.

To my old eyes there is a little to much light on the first rose as you loose some detail toward the back of it. I personally think I would have shot this at 2.8 and down the flash exposure to blur the red rose a little more and draw more attention to the pink rose, but that's just me.

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Originally Posted by SupraSonic

Taken RaW?


Personally it's good framing the colour needs to be WOW especially the Red Rose.The PINK rose it seems over expose..?Overall your areheading the right direction WELL DONE.
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Thank you! [:D] For some reason, I noticed after I took the shot that it was not set on RAW.


You are right, the pink rose is overexposed! For the life of me, I could not get it right but I'll keep tryng. [:)]


Denise

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Originally Posted by Ehcalum

I like it, simple, solid colors, and shapes. The Babys Breath in the foreground kinda of distracts though, but thats it.
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Thank you very, very much! Coming from you who's photos are awesome, I'll take that as a major thumbs up even with the baby breath issue! [:D]


Now if I can just take as good a photo of one of my three dogs as you did of Mocha, I'll really feel I'm making progress!


Denise

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Originally Posted by Wes

To my old eyes there is a little to much light on the first rose as you loose some detail toward the back of it. I personally think I would have shot this at 2.8 and down the flash exposure to blur the red rose a little more and draw more attention to the pink rose, but that's just me.
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You are right Wes, it would look much better at 2.8 with more blur on the red rose. I just bought this Speedlite and never used one before so I'm still trying to get it right ...so much to learn! This was the best I could get forfirst night really using it and the lens so hopefully things will improve by spring and I'm shooting my flower gardens!


Denise

I agree with Wes about the aperture.


My initial first thought was: flowers at a funeral. I think the background is very hard black. Maybe if it was a little more diffused, not one color black, it would have been a lot nicer for me. A little background lighting would have helped. At least that's what I think. You might like the black background for your personal reasons.


It could be me though, I have some crazy ideas about certain photos.


For instance, I really dislike black/white/grey baby portraits. Most of the time they are done porely and I always think the baby, which should be a blast of new life, looks kinda dead on those pictures. But then again...a lot of people do this, so they obviously like it...matter of personal taste.





Oh by the way...I have the trait to critique the way I think and I've noticed that not everyone likes the hardness of it. I have trouble criticizing nicely, I'm sorry. It's in my Dutch blood.

Hi Denise,


A very nice pic! I agree with some of the previous comments about the baby's breath being a bit of a distraction, but I think that's mostly due to the black background. To me, a featureless monochromatic background is best used with an uncluttered subject - a 'busier' subject needs a somewhat more complex background (through still thrown out of focus with a thin DOF for the subject). The image on the left below is an example I shot last week. For your shot, some deep green foliage (fern fronds?) might have made a nice background.


The lighting also looks a little stark to me - was the 580EX II mounted on the camera? One 'gadget' you might consider is an off-camera shoe cord like the CanonOC-E3. You can hand-hold the flash for different lighting angles, and maintain E-TTL metering. Note that you can even skip the off-camera cord and manually fire the flash. For the example on the right below, the exposure was set to -2.0 EV and I hand-held my 480EX II and manually fired it (with the pilot button)with the flash held 3-4 feet from the flower,4-5 times from different anglesduring the 5 s exposure. Took a couple of tries to get the look I wanted, but that's one great thing about macro shots of flowers indoors - you have all the time you need to set up the shot!


[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.35.15/MacroFlower.jpg[/img][img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.35.15/MacroRose.jpg[/img]


Rebel T1i,EF 100mm f/2.8<span style="color: red;"]LMacro IS USM, f/9.0, ISO200; left image, 10 s with ambient light, right image, 5 s with manual flash

Were you using direct flash? If so, try to swivel the flash off to the side and have it bounce off a white piece of poster board or paper.

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Originally Posted by Sheiky

My initial first thought was: flowers at a funeral. I think the background is very hard black.

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Please don't apologize for your honest crtique. I have tough skin, I can take it! [;)] Besides, a guy I work with made the same "funeral" statement so it must have some truth to it! Actually, I attended a local art studio this weekend to view digital photos of winners for a recent contest they held and one of the photographers had numerous flower photos with each one having the "very" black background so I thought I'd give it a try.


Thanks for your advice ...it is greatly appreciated. Rather than licking any wounds, it just gives me more determination to get it right.


Denise

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Originally Posted by Ehcalum

Were you using direct flash? If so, try to swivel the flash off to the side and have it bounce off a white piece of poster board or paper.
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I will give that a try. Heck, white poster board will be the cheapest thing I've had to buy so far unless Canon has some special type that costs $$ [:P].


Have a great day!


Denise

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

A very nice pic! I agree with some of the previous comments about the baby's breath being a bit of a distraction, but I think that's mostly due to the black background. To me, a featureless monochromatic background is best used with an uncluttered subject - a 'busier' subject needs a somewhat more complex background (through still thrown out of focus with a thin DOF for the subject). The image on the left below is an example I shot last week. For your shot, some deep green foliage (fern fronds?) might have made a nice background.


The lighting also looks a little stark to me - was the 580EX II mounted on the camera? One 'gadget' you might consider is an off-camera shoe cord like the CanonOC-E3. You can hand-hold the flash for different lighting angles, and maintain E-TTL metering. Note that you can even skip the off-camera cord and manually fire the flash. For the example on the right below, the exposure was set to -2.0 EV and I hand-held my 480EX II and manually fired it (with the pilot button)with the flash held 3-4 feet from the flower,4-5 times from different anglesduring the 5 s exposure. Took a couple of tries to get the look I wanted, but that's one great thing about macro shots of flowers indoors - you have all the time you need to set up the shot!





Rebel T1i,EF 100mm f/2.8<span style="color: #ff0000;"]LMacro IS USM, f/9.0, ISO200; left image, 10 s with ambient light, right image, 5 s with manual flash
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I have been thinking about the OC-E3 but have been hesitant to purchase since many reviews state it breaks very easily. I think I will still look into getting it and see for myself how it is. Thank you so much for your advice and by the way ...your photos are AWESOME!


Denise

Thanks, Denise!!

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

Heck, white poster board will be the cheapest thing I've had to buy so farunless Canon has some special typethat costs $$

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What, you mean you don't already have the Canon WPB-50 MkII?!? It's a 50 cm square of poster board specifically designed to bounce the flash from a 430EX II or a 580EX II. Note that if you have an older flash model, such as the 550EX, you need the MkI version of the WPB-50, and smaller flash heads such as the 270EX can use the WPB-30. Yes, there are cheaper 3rd party alternatives, but they have silly features like a gold or silver reflective surface on the back side, instead of the Canon logo... [;)]

You forgot that they are also not compatible with any of the EZ series flashes.

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

What, you mean you don't already have the Canon WPB-50 MkII?!? It's a 50 cm square of poster board specifically designed to bounce the flash from a 430EX II or a 580EX II. Note that if you have an older flash model, such as the 550EX, you need the MkI version of the WPB-50, and smaller flash heads such as the 270EX can use the WPB-30. Yes, there are cheaper 3rd party alternatives, but they have silly features like a gold or silver reflective surface on the back side, instead of the Canon logo...

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So true! Thank you (and Andy)for the much needed laugh during my workday today, glad I took a sneak peek in during my lunchbreak![:D]


Denise