Lovely OOF background and colours, but I think I would have preferred to see more stem to get the entire stem/basal leaves structure as well, it looks a touch truncated for me at present
These plants are often rather tall so that may have not been possible, but the overall shot is pleasing. I wish the background was a little less bright and more complimentary. Just to say its a Southern Marsh Orchid for anyone not aware, there are three or more types of Marsh Orchid - Pugsleys (Narrow Leaved) Southern Marsh, Early Marsh, Northern Marsh and Hebridean, with Southern, Northern and Early being the most common in that order.
I have looked at this image a few times now and must admit that if it was mine I would be extremely pleased with the outcome! I do however feel it is a wee bit over saturated though!
Hello Tony,
I would agree that it might have been even better with more stem so that it didn't look so cut-off and it looks soft to me. That said you have a nice clean background and it's not a bad picture by any means. It always seems to me that taking good plant pictures should be easier than it is, so you have done well here. Eric
It does look a tad soft to me Tony, I too would prefer for the whole plant to be in the frame (that is mainly personal preference) and agree that the bg is a bit bright, I will often try to shade the bg if it is catching a lot of light.
Posted by Elliott Neep on June 11, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Hi Tony, I think you have caught the halfway house here. Its a good strong image of an orchid, but just a tad too close for a 'plant portrait', yet not close enough for a 'floral detail'. For presentation-sake a little more sharpening would crisp things up nicely. For me, the background doesn't quite hit the mark. It fails to set off the purples of the flower. I often take a 360degree walk around a selected flower, just to find a pleasing background that really sets it off.
Posted by tony flashman on June 11, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Thanks for the comments folks,
I tend to agree about the stem not being long enough but this was just about all I could get without it being too messy, but I do like the bright background.
Re Phils comment "Obviously Macs are not as sharp as PC's" He has got it the wrong way round, images do look sharper on my mac laptop, hence I am not applying anywhere near as much as I do on my PC (which hasnt been used for weeks poor thing)
Discussion
10 repliesnikon d300
sigma 180 macro
400 iso
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benbo mk1
kirk head
Nicely taken, in my book, although having read Mike's 'truncated' comment, i tend to agree.
Alan
I have looked at this image a few times now and must admit that if it was mine I would be extremely pleased with the outcome! I do however feel it is a wee bit over saturated though!
I would agree that it might have been even better with more stem so that it didn't look so cut-off and it looks soft to me. That said you have a nice clean background and it's not a bad picture by any means. It always seems to me that taking good plant pictures should be easier than it is, so you have done well here.
Ian
Cheers,
Dan.
It does look a tad soft to me Tony, I too would prefer for the whole plant to be in the frame (that is mainly personal preference) and agree that the bg is a bit bright, I will often try to shade the bg if it is catching a lot of light.
I tend to agree about the stem not being long enough but this was just about all I could get without it being too messy, but I do like the bright background.
Re Phils comment "Obviously Macs are not as sharp as PC's" He has got it the wrong way round, images do look sharper on my mac laptop, hence I am not applying anywhere near as much as I do on my PC (which hasnt been used for weeks poor thing)
Tony