Flower Macros - comments please

[johnaalex]

I bought the wife some flowers for her birthday I thought why not take advantage of the situation and take some pictures. These were all taken using a D300 with Sigma 150 2.8 on a tripod. I will admit to some touching up with Photoshop and some careful cropping, but most are basically straight from the camera.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Click on a pic for a larger version.

[BurninVermin]

1,6 and 11 for me, but all nice in truth 1 look's like it could have come from below the ocean.

[Mike.P®]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

I bought the wife some flowers for her birthday I thought why not take advantage of the situation and take some pictures.

I did exactly the same thing on my wifes birthday but instead of flowers I bought chocolates and instead of taking photos I ate them.
Still, the thought was there.

Good to see you are making use of my lens, nice shots

[Manic78]

6 and 7 for me.

B&W conversion would be very nice on those

[diablo67]

Lovely shots 1,9, and 11 really stand out for me.

[kBm]

5 & 6 - great DoF, really draws you in.
8-9-10-11 - i find that as its not a full frame shot, im slightly distracted from the different colours in the background.

HTH

[johnaalex]

Originally Posted by Mike.P®

Good to see you are making use of my lens, nice shots

YOUR lens! Huh! As if you would know what to do with it

Originally Posted by Manic78

6 and 7 for me. B&W conversion would be very nice on those

You may be right, but I have tried a few options and the B&W does not look as good as the colour to me. However, I am always prepared to be proved wrong by somebody more adept at B&W conversions than me .

Thanks to everybody else for the nice comments.

[julian_fraser]

3, 6 & 11 for me.

All very nice shots though - like the colours.

[Yandros]

Some stunning colours there

#3 and #11 for me.

I also like #1, but it's just a tad too soft to be a winner IMO.

#5 is my favourite rose, because I love the shallow DOF, but again, it's a bit too soft (struggling to find any sharp edge).

If you're not doing it already, I'd suggest taking a safely shot or two at smaller apertures. The wide open stuff is amazing when you nail to focus, but I suffer from a high proportion of near misses at 2.8 and end up using a more conservative shot.

[TarMoo]

3, 6 an 11 look the best to me.

1, 2, & 4 - lacks depth of field.

[alchemistkevin]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

I bought the wife some flowers for her birthday I thought why not take advantage of the situation and take some pictures.

Your pictures are all good but I'm sure there was a better way of taking advantage of the situation

[johnaalex]

Originally Posted by Yandros

#5 is my favourite rose, because I love the shallow DOF, but again, it's a bit too soft (struggling to find any sharp edge).

I thought twice about posting that one because of the softness, but I realised that was the reason why I liked it. I just wish I could say I used the manual focus to achieve the effect, but it was a fluke.

Originally Posted by Yandros

If you're not doing it already, I'd suggest taking a safely shot or two at smaller apertures. The wide open stuff is amazing when you nail to focus, but I suffer from a high proportion of near misses at 2.8 and end up using a more conservative shot.

Yep, I do that (most of the time ) To be honest I still have to remind myself that shooting at ISO800 is easy for the D300 and allows me to get greater DoF.

Originally Posted by TarMoo

1, 2, & 4 - lacks depth of field.

That was the idea

Originally Posted by alchemistkevin

Your pictures are all good but I'm sure there was a better way of taking advantage of the situation

Oh, I did get out of washing up duty if that is what you mean