Zinnia + 2nd image & ?

Beautiful color and fine placement and composition Barbara. I might prefer more dof but that's pretty subjective. Very fine work for my tastes and I think that new lens is serving you well. I'm thinking you're going to have a lot of fun with it.

pat

Barbara, this is very well done. I like the subject and the comp, and I also like the POF and DOF. My only nit is that the image looks a little soft overall, more noticeable in the larger version, like you have a tiny bit of camera or subject movement. You don't say whether you used a tripod, and I know you're still waiting for your new tripod, so the tripod you used (or didn't use) may be the culprit, or maybe you had a tiny bit of subject movement due to wind. If you were dealing with wind, I understand the 1/40 ss, but this may not have been fast enough. If you HH this, you acheived remarkable sharpness for 1/40, but, IMO, you can HH a 90 mm macro lens at 1/40 and get necessary sharpness. You need a good tripod. This will also enable the greater DOF Pat mentioned, although I am personally OK with the DOF here. Just remember that when you shoot macro, not only subject detail is magnified, but so is subject and/or camera movement. Your off to a great start, IMO, and I am looking forward to seeing more macro work from you and your new lens.

Barbara,

Nice shot. I really like the bold color and all of the different textures you have captured here. I agree with Scott, a good quality tripod is an essential tool that can give you excellent results, I use mine all of the time (I can't recall ever not using it)

Congrats on your new macro lens, these lenses are GREAT FUN!!

Chrisie Jackson
Denver, Colorado

You are very well on your way. This is actually very good and if not perfect you ccan look back on your first macro post with pride. You are going to have fun.

Charlie

Quite bold, Barbara. Looks as though some experimentation with this lens is necessary. At f/11 I would have expected a deeper DOF. Would suggest f/22 to see if you can get the entire center of the flower into sharp focus.

Regards,

Carol

Barbara, Nice close-up of a Zinnia . I like the strong punchy colors and the great details captured at the center and of course the strong off center composition. All good .

Depth of Field should be in line with the artistic vision - not one stop or a stop less - there is no right aperture that has to be used for any scenario. Sometimes F/5 is right and sometimes F/22 is also right and sometimes stacking is also right.

Usage of tripod becomes almost a must - shutter speed is enemy # 1 for macros and close-ups. You could use tripod for now and then if you possess steady hands you can shoot hand geld later on. The 2nd problem with Macros is point of focus. When shooting handheld its quite likely that you miss your point of focus while the photo might be sharp otherwise.

You are on the right course and in no time, you will get a better feel for Macros and Close-Ups. Good Luck.

Thanks, everyone. Ram, I wasn't sure which artistic vision I wanted. I tried to capture a range, but in some of them the elements around the center were too close to the edge or even out of the frame (handheld issue). But here is another type of vision I had/have for macro shooting. I think I look both sharp and blurry. What do you (or anyone) think about this version (this is the uncropped, unprocessed JPG) as compared to the one I posted? Thank you!

Barbara,

I prefer the brighter colors in the repost and surprisingly to me, the more blurred elements. I think it's mostly a matter of which one you prefer though. (smile)

pat

Barbara, I like the repost as well - its brighter and focusses on exactly what you want to show - the center of the Zinnia. That precisely is the concept of the Depth of Field in close-ups. You put what you want to show in that available depth of field. Keep the composition simple - let the viewer see precisely what you want them to see - nothing more, nothing less.

Just one small thing however - make sure the lead-in, into the frame is not OOF. In the repost, and if it were to be me, I'd try to put the nearest stamens/anthers (whatever those projections are) in some good focus. Parts closest to the lead-in are attention grabbers - making them OOF means you are going to lose some viewer interest.

I am really glad to see how easily you handled the new Macro Lens. When I first bought mine, I did not even know it focussed close

Barbara:
Agree with Pat and Ram that the repost is stronger. Bold composition.

Macro lens is real fun. When I got mine, it stayed on the camera almost the whole 3 months.

Barbara: I actually much prefer the original. On the repost I'm not sure what the POF is. On the original I think this DOF would be more effective if the POF was pushed further back into the center. The FG petals are sharp out to the edge of the frame which tells me that your hyperfocal point is too close to the camera. I practically wear out my DOF preview on these kind of shots to get the range of focus I want. Here I think the original post would be better if the FG was a little softer and the center a bit sharper. I certainly like the subject and the colors. Keep after it. >=))>

Great composition and colors, Barbara. I like it very much ! Perhaps it would be interseting to see a version with more DOF ( next time you can try different shots ) but I like this as it is and I do prefer the original post..
To me this flower is a Zinnia.
Mauro

Both shots are very nicely done Barbara! I like the colors in the second post, but I think I prefer the POF and perspective of the first post more. I have the same macro lens, and you wont be dissapointed with it's performance. I've found the one thing you have to do in macro / close-up shooting is really slow down and think about where you want elements positioned, where you want your focal point to be, and also determine the DOF you like best. Shooting macro has helped my other photography in that regard.

Another thing you might look into is getting a Wimberly Plamp. They're fairly inexpensive, and will help hold a subject that is moving in the breeze and also to turn and pose any subjects where you want them. I think Varina Patel wrote an article this month about Mike Moats's macro kit, that includes a plamp. You might want to check it out if you havent already.

You're in for a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing more.

I will just ditto Pat on the repost.