Spring In Bloom

[DigiDiva]

My first spring photo. I'm gonna try to take more flora photos this year, now I have a decent tripod and a remote shutter release so would appreciate comments to help me improve. Thanks.

[karenoliver]

Nice to see you posting your shots here, Chris :-) I love the water on the petals and think the background really sets the colours off. Did you use flash or just natural light?

Karen

[DigiDiva]

I took a number of shots,some with natural light and some with a torch shinning on the flowers. I think this one was natural light, as the torch ones were too bright.Not sure which this was forcertain. I need to learnto make notes so I know. I'm trying to learn more about D of F and discovered that a longer exposure gives more D of F. I know I'm telling you what you already know but it's a revelation for me. Each photo I take I learn more. Thank you for your positive feedback. I'm growing in understanding and confidence

[karenoliver]

Do you have a flash on your camera? That might be better than a torch, although saying that a long exposure with the torch painting the flower slowly can create some really nice effects.

Karen

[DigiDiva]

I have the normal built in flash, but dont have a flash gun or anything that fits on the 'hot shoe' (is that the right name?)

[OldBoy]

Cracking shot DigiDiva with great colours and the dark background makes them jump out. No image data in your gallery, but you increase the DoF by using a smaller Aperture, so rather than say F5.6 it might be F11 or F16.

[DigiDiva]

I tried that oldboy, and only a small amount of the flower was in focus, but it seemed to increase with a longer exposure..Im talking rubbish right??? Thats how it seemed

[karenoliver]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

I have the normal built in flash, but dont have a flash gun or anything that fits on the 'hot shoe' (is that the right name?)

Yeah, that is right. Have you tried using the camera's flash on the flowers as well?

Karen

[MattUK]

Originally Posted by DigiDiva

I tried that oldboy, and only a small amount of the flower was in focus, but it seemed to increase with a longer exposure..Im talking rubbish right??? Thats how it seemed

Not quite Chris

A longer exposure won't increase the amount of flower that's in focus - increasing your aperture will do that. A general rule of thumb is: smaller aperture numbers blur the background, larger aperture numbers give the background more focus.

So if I were taking that shot, I'd want a nice small aperture (anything from 1.8 to about 5.6) to blur the background

Anyway, it's a lovely shot, my only suggestion would be to watch the composition - the top left of the flower has been slightly cropped, without apparent reason

[DigiDiva]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments.