[slowpez]

I am still learning to use my new DSLR. Took this picture at a garden near Charleston, SC. I am quite pleased with it. The lighting turned out rather nice. The flower was located in a rather dark area of the garden. Please let me know how I could have improved the shot. It has not been re-touched.
Thanks, Susan

[Keith]

Hi slowpez,

it is a nice photo and I love what you have done with the shadows. I think a little work in Photoshop or similar program will give your photo a little more impact - maybe it just needs a little work with contrast or gamma???

Cheers
Keith

[rmtagg]

I like your picture but before I would say you might want to try this or that I would want to see it as a larger pic than this. I just don't think it is fair to try and make suggestions when the pic is this small. From what I see I like it

[slowpez]

Thanks for your responses. Sorry about the size of the picture rmtagg. I'm new at this and didn't realize I could post the larger size.
Keith, I took your advice and altered the pic in photoshop using the unsharp mask and levels. New at that kind of stuff too. Tried changing just the contrast but it just didn't look right.



Thanks to any and all who have helpful comments and critiques.
Susan

[rmtagg]

the only suggestion I would have is to tweak the contrast a little. Very nice work

[weatherwise2]

This picture works well, in my novice opinion, because of the black background and the side lighting. your techniques was very good on getting the right amount of focus and not too shallow. I think it needs some minor adjustments in white balence and some reduction in the highlight of the front petal but excellent job.

[madjames]

Well done slowpez. The texture of the petals is great.

[vievetrick]

I agree this is a great shot and should be printed and hung. Nice work. Could you share how you got it. I mean the lighting and how you got the background so nice and black if this was in a garden.

[Ole]

Great shot, and placed perfectly in the frame!

[slowpez]

Thanks everyone for your input. I really appreciate it. I really like the new camera and find I am struggling a lot getting things right but I do enjoy the process.
PatB. the flower was located in some underbrush next to a creek. The sunlight was just pouring through in that spot. I used my 200 mm zoom at 1/90 sec. and kept the aperature at F11. The dark ground did the rest.
Rosemary, I'll try tweaking the contrast a bit.
Sorry Weatherwise 2, but I just don't have the savvy to correct the highlight on the front petal. I'll hang onto the photo and, who knows, I may learn that technique eventually.
Again, thanks everyone for you assistance. I really appreciate it.
Susan