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WC503 Wildflower w repost
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WC503 Wildflower w repost

by David Sparks

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted October 4, 201136 views9 comments
D300, 300mm f/4 + 1.7x tc, 1/1000 s at f/9, ISO 800
Aperture priority, Spot metering mode
April 13, 2010
A friend invited me to go with him to photograph California wildflowers. I used my birding lens to try to isolate this wild flower. It was windy, so I cranked up the ISO to get a shorter exposure time.
Comments and suggestions most welcome.

Comments

9 comments
Comment posted by RL Potts on October 4, 2011 at 9:38 PM
The softness of the background is very nice. The darkened area at the top is a very good touch as well. Getting beyond this point with flower photography can be a real challenge. Try finding a grouping of flowers, an insect, spider web, or dew and apply that with what you have accomplished here.
Registered on November 24, 2003, 188 Posts, 985 Comments
Comment posted by Peter Conway on October 4, 2011 at 10:11 PM
David, I think the "birding" approach really works here. Great isolation of the bloom and the BG is superb. You may wish to consider selecting the flower and then inverse to the BG and run a noise reduction pass on it.

Peter
Registered on June 25, 2007, 347 Posts, 3913 Comments
Comment posted by Carol Nichols on October 4, 2011 at 10:12 PM
David, your single flower works quite well against a beautiful background that complements the colors in the flower so well.
Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments
Comment posted by Craig Strand on October 4, 2011 at 10:24 PM
Very simple, artistically composed and recorded David. I like it!
Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments
Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on October 5, 2011 at 6:42 PM
You've followed the ground rules for flower photography.... overcast day, pleasing subject and unobtrusive blurred background. The complimentary colors are nice here as well as the composition. I use my 100-400 almost exclusively (except for macro shots) and time the shot to when the wind blows the flower to my best advantage. :toast:
Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments
Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on October 6, 2011 at 9:32 PM
I really like this and the way it's presented. Sharon
Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments
Comment posted by Pat Sampson on October 7, 2011 at 4:22 PM
David,

I like this as posted. The color palette is very appealing and the space works for me as posted. As an alternative though I might consider a crop of about 20% from the top. (You'd obviously loose the std. aspect ratio.) The idea would be to put more emphasis on the bloom while eliminating the least interesting spaces (at least to me) in the image. You'd also be getting the bloom near the power point in the upper right quadrant.

Love the subtlety of the bg in this.

pat
Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments
Comment posted by David Sparks on October 7, 2011 at 5:29 PM
Everyone:
Thanks for the comments and feedback.
Pat: this is a crop from the top, as you suggested.
I need to look at the two when they are the same size before deciding which I prefer.
Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments
Comment posted by Varina Patel on October 10, 2011 at 3:19 PM
What a lovely little fellow! I love the yellow behind! Well done!
Registered on August 22, 2008, 45 Posts, 1578 Comments