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Forums · PNWNP

Long Time Snooper

Discussion

6 replies
Posted by Jason Bock on March 7, 2009 at 10:04 PM
I have been snooping around here off and on for a few years and finally decided it was time to get some of your valuable input. This is a picture I took last summer up along Lolo Pass Road on the west side of Mt. Hood. Some have told me that the DOF is too shallow but personnally I like it. What do you think? Any and all comments/critiques welcome. Thanks.

Canon 20D
Canon 24-70mm @59mm
f/2.8
1/125 sec.
ISO 100
Posted by Ken Smith on March 7, 2009 at 11:33 PM
Hi Jason, welcome. Hat's off to you for presenting the orange-reds so well here. I like to vary dof in order for the viewer to scratch n search a bit throughout the frame. But, often it seems to frustrate. You will prolly get all opinions... In this case, I like how you've done it....top ptn has some nice shapes. Ken S
Posted by Thomas Dean on March 8, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Is it my monitor, or are the reds blown on the tips of the flowers? I find that I frequently have a similar problem and I'm curious if it's a function of the bit depth of my camera. It is somewhat distracting for me - any suggestions as to what causes it and how to correct it are very welcome.
Posted by Marc Dilley on March 8, 2009 at 11:24 AM
It's not lack of depth of field so much, but lack of sharpness in at least some part of the flower. Well, the green background does set it off nicely. Not the most inventive comp we've seen, but still a beautiful paintbrush specimen. Good first post, Jason. I hope to see more of your work.
Posted by Cliff Dodge on March 8, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Nice post and hi. The aperture does make the flower stand out, but i agree with Marc D. :)
Posted by Rick Dunn on March 8, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Welcome, Jason. I thinks it's a combination of the DOF being too shallow and/or what Marc describes. Wherever the plane of focus was, there wasn't much of the flower residing there, and so my eye wanders around trying to find something to focus on, some place to rest. The same DOF with a different focal point may have resulted in a larger area of sharpness to help guide the eye; or, a smaller aperture at the same focal point would have had a similar beneficial result.

That shouldn't take away from your own appreciation of the image, but might explain why others have a response different from your own.
Posted by Catherine Reilly on March 8, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Welcome! What a fine first post. Love the artistic rendition of the Paintbrush. Dof is great; it's sharp where it needs to be with glowing color and lovely complementary bg. Great work. I bet the Flora Forum would really enjoy this!