[Tonytee]

At first glance through the viewfinder, I thought these were pretty enough to shoot. I now check out the results and admittedly I am a little disappointed. The Bokeh is not what I had hoped for. Overall, I do not believe that this is a good photograph. Please feel free to comment.

Many thanks,

Tony

Attached Images

 

[RobG]

I think the problem may be that there's more flowers out of focus than in focus. Maybe if you'd gone closer still, to isolate a single flower head, that would have mostly cropped out the others and made them even more OOF.

[Tonytee]

I think the problem may be that there's more flowers out of focus than in focus. Maybe if you'd gone closer still, to isolate a single flower head, that would have mostly cropped out the others and made them even more OOF.

Got it. I see what you are saying. Thanks very much.

Tony

[photolady95]

A smaller aperture would have helped too. f8 or above.

[Tonytee]

A smaller aperture would have helped too. f8 or above.

Many thanks Photolady.

Tony

[RobG]

Maybe try some experiments with different focal lengths and apertures to see what works for this kind of subject. Here's one at f2.8 with the DA50; I was specifically trying out what the results were like wide open.


O my Luve's like a red, red rose by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

I agree with Photolady that a smaller aperture would have helped with the photo as framed, but it would also have changed the bokeh a lot. So it depends on what you're looking for. I wanted to post a similar pic but the ones I have on Flickr are mostly taken with the DA*300.

[Tonytee]

Maybe try some experiments with different focal lengths and apertures to see what works for this kind of subject. Here's one at f2.8 with the DA50; I was specifically trying out what the results were like wide open.


O my Luve's like a red, red rose by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

I agree with Photolady that a smaller aperture would have helped with the photo as framed, but it would also have changed the bokeh a lot. So it depends on what you're looking for. I wanted to post a similar pic but the ones I have on Flickr are mostly taken with the DA*300.

Absolutely beautiful photograph. As far as mine is concerned, what about stopping down one stop and use a slower shutter speed?

Many thanks,

Tony

[fg-one]

IMO, the problem is not a lack of sharpness but a lack of bokeh. This is the kind of photograph I would take with a 50 mm lens at f2, having only the foreground petal of the foreground flower in focus. This is what you did but at f4.5, the bokeh is too light. Another issue is the central position of the foreground flower. It would look nicer if it was slightly shifted on one side.

[RobG]

Absolutely beautiful photograph. As far as mine is concerned, what about stopping down one stop and use a slower shutter speed?

Thanks! If you wanted to keep the framing the same, I think you'd need to use a much smaller aperture, as Photolady suggested.

IMO, the problem is not a lack of sharpness but a lack of bokeh. This is the kind of photograph I would take with a 50 mm lens at f2, having only the foreground petal of the foreground flower in focus. This is what you did but at f4.5, the bokeh is too light. Another issue is the central position of the foreground flower. It would look nicer if it was slightly shifted on one side.

I don't know the lens in question, but 4.5 may be wide open already - however I agree with you, because that was my original suggestion of isolating one flower head; doing so would reduce the depth of field at the same f-stop and make the bokeh more out of focus.

[BrianR]

The Bokeh is not what I had hoped for.

What were you hoping it would look like?

For me, the greyish background is rather dull. I would have aimed for something darker, which would set the cyclamen blooms off with their white edges, or something brighter and cheery.

I may also have pruned (or recomposed to avoid) that deep blue/purplish mass on the right edge, as well as that little pink bit in the bottom right corner. The rest of the image is pretty clean (nothing but this flower and it's foliage) so the odd little stray bits can really stand out. I'm also not big on the left edge of the frame just touching that back flower petal- I'd either give it more room or crop with conviction. I don't mind the lead flower located in the centre, but it may have been a more dynamic composition if you had moved the camera a few inches to the right to get those trailing flowers leading in at more of an angle.

Beautifully bright subject, and you've done very well to capture the pink and red tones without nuking any colours.

[Tonytee]

What were you hoping it would look like?

For me, the greyish background is rather dull. I would have aimed for something darker, which would set the cyclamen blooms off with their white edges, or something brighter and cheery.

I may also have pruned (or recomposed to avoid) that deep blue/purplish mass on the right edge, as well as that little pink bit in the bottom right corner. The rest of the image is pretty clean (nothing but this flower and it's foliage) so the odd little stray bits can really stand out. I'm also not big on the left edge of the frame just touching that back flower petal- I'd either give it more room or crop with conviction. I don't mind the lead flower located in the centre, but it may have been a more dynamic composition if you had moved the camera a few inches to the right to get those trailing flowers leading in at more of an angle.

Beautifully bright subject, and you've done very well to capture the pink and red tones without nuking any colours.

Thanks BrianR, I really appreciate your excellent commentary and suggestions. What I was hoping for was to capture the flowers in the front and to blur the ones in the background by adjusting settings. Well, after all, I do not regret uploading the photo as I have received very useful information. Many thanks to everyone.

Tony