Prickly Poppy #2

Laura,

I like your composition a lot and also the bg separation you achieved. I like the image as posted but even so I'd look for some way to brighten the blooms. If you decide to do it, I'd probably try curves. I prefer LR but you could use PS also. I just think its easier to control in LR. You could also look at brightening the entire image. This is not a big deal, I just rarely shoot in shadow and I was mostly trying to figure out how I'd go about the post processing.

pat

Laura: I think you did well here. In an ideal capture the poppy would be a bit brighter but if you boost the brightness overall then the BG is going to suffer. With the flower in the shade you've gotten good separation from the BG. My only suggestion for similar situations in the future would be to consider popping the flower with a little flash. I do like the comp and your DOF choice. >=))>

I agree with Pat and Bill about brightening the bloom a bit. A nice capture regardless, and the background is very striking.

Very nice comp. I wish the poppy was brighter. If you are familiar with PS you could try using a mask and letting your wonderful BG stay in the luminance range it is in and selectively bring up the brightness in the poppy. You will be a master at manual in no time at all.

Good suggestions from everyone Laura, and I also like this and what you have accomplished with this flower. Good job.
Bob

Laura, I second Bill's Idea here . As an alternative to flash you may also consider the use of Reflectors (aluminium foil on a thick board will also do the trick) OR the more recent Lite Panels.

Prickly Poppies are terrific subjects to photograph.

You've already received great suggestions as to brightening the bloom, so I'll focus on what I like. The comp is really great. I like that the center is "peeking" out from the petals. The BG is perfect and I like all the muted tones going on back there.

Laura:
I don't have any constructive suggestions - just wanted to say I like the BG and the separation of flower and BG, as others have mentioned.

You have many good suggestions, another one might be to select the flower with the magic wand if you use photoshop and apply the shadow/highlight option or curves just to the flower.

The composition is perfect and the bg is great

Laura, nice comp and DOF/POF. You've already gotten some great ideas about brightening the flower. For me, since I don't like sitting in front of a computer, I try to do as much as possible in the field (as such, Bill's suggestion of using some fill flash or Ram's suggestion of a reflector are good ones for that).