Anita's Photoblog
Yellow Flower
Posted by Anita (West Nottingham, United States) on 13 August 2009 in Plant & Nature.
I appreciate the many positive responses to my prior post! Thank you!!
I know I am supposed to have the center of the flower leaning into not out of the photo. But, I liked the curls on the left, and the leaning out doesn't bother me.
After reading Tomas' comment, I went back to the image and ran some noisse suppression software, and posted the improved image.
*****THANK YOU FOR VISITING ANITA'S PHOTOBLOG!*****
I welcome your honest critique, especially if they will improve my photography.
If I have made a mistake in a flower identification, please let me know!
A few words about the EXIF data, beginning in April when I began using Nikon D300 and the Sigma 105mm macro: My new camera and macro lens record the relative or effective f stop, not the one seen on the lens. For an explanation of this, go to the next to the last question at this site.
Dulcie from Danville, CA, United States
Well, I am just plain running out of superlatives, Anita. This one is stunning, too.
I love the deeply saturated yellow, and the pistils and stamens look good enough to eat.
Poof on the "supposed-to" of leaning in not out when it works as well as this one.
Glad you chose this composition.
It's inspiring to know of your potential future show. Good for you!!!
13 Aug 2009 6:12am
Tomas Turecek from Czech Republic
This is great theme Anita. I like your choice of composition and especially all those shades of yellow. I see that you shot this at f/40(!). I'm not sure how much you know about technical possibilities of camera lenses but they don't have constant resolution quality over whole f range. Usually it has peak somewhere in the middle of f-number range fading towards both ends. For wide angle lenses the peak is usually around f/10, for macro lenses it's below f/10. Very nice technical site with a big amount of lenses tests is http://www.photozone.de. According to their test of Sigma 105 lens (I guess that you use it) on http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/302-sigma-af-105mm-f28-ex-macro-dg-nikon-mount-lab-test-report--review the highest resolution is achieved on f/5.6. Practically it means that if you go to lower or higher f number the resolution goes down and the image is not so sharp. I think that here it can be seen in the centre (stamens and pistils) where it looks like grainy. Just something to think about.
13 Aug 2009 8:09am
@Tomas Turecek: Tomas: Thanks so much for your comments. I will visit the site you mention. I am working on getting photos with all the flower sharp. Your comments remind me to use some lower number f stops in this attempt and to compare the results. I also went back to the original image and ran it through noise reduction and posted the improved image.
Tomas Turecek from Czech Republic
This new version looks a bit better to me as far as I remember the previous one. Still, you can see that some parts are sharper and some are, not blurred, but not as sharp as others and one would expect a diamond sharp image on f/40. I'm really interested in seeing a comparison between images taken on lower f-number and this one.
13 Aug 2009 11:43am
Don from spokane, United States
This is a fine image. I like the intense yellow and the detail in the center of the blossom. I like the placement in the frame... looks very good to me.
13 Aug 2009 4:16pm
António Pires from Lisbon, Portugal
Good image, Anita. Plenty of detail and well composed. Of course, shooting so close the dof is shallow.
13 Aug 2009 4:31pm
Dawn from Maryland, United States
What a beautiful macro shot!! Love the yellow color. Perfect!
13 Aug 2009 5:06pm
Susan from Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
Gorgeous shot Anita..... nice job !!
13 Aug 2009 5:36pm
Barbara Kile from Ft. Worth, United States
As far as I am concerned, your curl is your subject center. I like it! This is small and you're REALLY close, so even at f/40 you're not going to have everything sharp due to the miniscule DOF. This is a f/150 shot! (kidding!) It's perfect and lovely!
13 Aug 2009 7:51pm
Tracy from La Selva Beach, United States
Beautiful! I love the little "rebel" petal, just doing it's own thing...I think that the breaking of the pattern is the best part!
14 Aug 2009 3:29am
Tomas Turecek from Czech Republic
Maybe I haven't explained myself clearly enough so one more comment. My first comment was not related to sharpness of whole image but graininess and amount of details. What you all see now is already "de-noised" image not the original one to which I wrote my first comment. Anyway, Anita, you wanted to capture the image as sharp as possible so you chose f/40, that's understandable, the "main part" of the image is curved leaf, I agree, and that is pretty sharp as you probably wanted it so you did your work very well. I only wanted to let you know that you should be aware of loosing details when using very high f-numbers and that I thought that it could be seen in the pistils and stamens part of the image. That's all.
14 Aug 2009 7:50am
@Tomas Turecek: Tomas: Be reassured that I understood your first email. It was a good reminder to me that middle range f stops are often the sharpest--I'd forgotten that. I also appreciate the link you provided, which I am going to use to check out other lenses. You look at my images with a constructively critical eye, and I very much appreciate that!!!! It helps me see what I haven't noticed, and it helps me grow as a photographer. I'm wondering if part of the problem with the original photo was due to my use of Topaz Adjust--using it too heavily. Here is the original image, without Topaz Adjuts, for comparison purposes. Anita :-)
Betty from New Jersey, United States
I love the curled petal! Nice composition, Anita, and I love the gorgeous yellow!
14 Aug 2009 9:55am
Sophie Asselin from Montréal, Canada
Wow. The composition is perfect ! I also like the colors. Congrats !
15 Aug 2009 3:00am
Bethany from Michigan, United States
Anita you take such nice flower shots- I really enjoy them!
15 Aug 2009 4:01am
David Ross from Bryn Mawr, United States
I admire your capture of the curves, curl, light, and sense of dynamic energy. I also appreciate the educational, supportive dialog with Tomas.
15 Aug 2009 9:18am
Bernie Kasper from United States
Beautiful work, lovely detail and color as well !!
16 Aug 2009 4:51pm
Nikon D300
5 seconds
F/40.0
ISO 100
157 mm (35mm equiv.)