Passionflower after Rain

Gallery: FloraPosted June 18, 2011176 views12 comments

Canon EOS REBEL T2i
EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
6/17/2011 – 2:17:20 PM
1/160
Aperture Priority
f/11
ISO 800
Focal length 214 mm
Handheld braced against tree trunk
Woods near my house
Raw file, square crop

This isn't the same passionflower as last time, of course, and this one is soaking wet. The raindrops don't show up exceedingly well, though, but the general appearance of the flower is very different because of being wet.

I tried some different settings because it was a bit dark, and I'm not quite sure whether I like them. Aperture Priority was probably fine, but I think I'd rather have tried ISO 400 if that had given enough light, and even though f/11 maybe made more of the flower in focus it also made the background too much in focus. The background was not clean, as you can see, because there were palmettos behind the flower, and the background may be a deal breaker for some or most of you.

Feedback on any of those things or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Bob Duff on June 18, 2011 at 6:06 AM

Barbara, I like your comp for this passion flower. I like passion flowers for their complex structure. There is alot going on with them and their colours so wonderful. As such, they really need to be isolated and there in lies the dilemma. You need lots of DOF to capture the detail and with that the BG comes into play. Other than stacking or blending two or more different images you're going to have the BG become a prominant part of the image. In this image the diagonal lines of the BG are a distraction for my tastes. I would also prefer to have the image a little darker to get the richer colours in the passion flower comig through more.

Registered on April 21, 2010, 160 Posts, 1675 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on June 18, 2011 at 6:26 AM

Beautifully crisp image, Barbara, with the flower nicely placed in the frame. I suppose a bit of cloning - maybe in the upper right area - would tone down the distraction of the bg, but personally I don't at all mind the diagonals, as they sweep in the opposite direction to the lean of the flower which looks nice to me.

Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on June 18, 2011 at 8:59 AM

Barbara: I know how these guys grow so BG control is always difficult. For me the diagonals are OOF enough. The only thing I would change in the BG would be the bright spot at the flower's 8 o'clock position. Good choices, nicely done.>=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on June 18, 2011 at 9:59 AM

Neat subject Barbara and fine capture. I actually like the diagonals and think they add interest in this case. I would probably take Bill's suggestion on the bright spot. Very fine work.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Derek Yow on June 18, 2011 at 10:34 AM

Looks like you had some tough shooting conditions to overcome, and I think you did well managing what you had. I like the passion flower, and the sharpness and DOF you've achieved. Sometimes you just have to comprimise. The BG doesnt bother me too much, although a nice clean BG would work better.

Registered on May 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 655 Comments

Comment posted by Hee Chye Heng on June 18, 2011 at 12:05 PM

Barbara, this is a very nice portrait of a passionflower. Very attractive colors and details.

Hee Chye

Registered on May 31, 2011, 2 Posts, 20 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on June 18, 2011 at 1:42 PM

Hi Barbara

The Passionflower makes a marvelous subject

love the lines and color

The BG could be be cropped a bit on top. to focus more on this great subject

Albert Darmo

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Neven Dries on June 18, 2011 at 3:16 PM

Barbara, I agree with everything Bill said here. Superb capture!

Registered on February 24, 2006, 52 Posts, 160 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on June 18, 2011 at 6:27 PM

Passionflower is a tough flower to shoot

- I think you did well here. Background is not a big issue which is reasonably blurred but a more uniform one would have been killer.

I love the excellent details, water droplets and the great sharpness

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on June 19, 2011 at 12:49 PM

Wow Barbara, with just some small tweaking, this is a "10". Very clear and defined to me.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on June 19, 2011 at 4:23 PM

Lovely dancing lady, Barbara. I like the in-focus flower very much but not 100% fond of the background. I think it detracts from the flower.

My 2-cents.

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on June 21, 2011 at 10:01 AM

Thank you very much for the feedback on this one. I'll work on it some more and maybe resubmit instead of repost.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments