DSLR Photography Forum

I went to the botanical garden today, which was most of all way to crowded with people.
tried to get a few nice shots anyway.

There were plenty of Magnolia trees, and I find Magnolia just as beautiful as notorious to shoot.
This one sort of works, I find, although I could imagine something much better.
Maybe I'll try black and white on this, what do you think?



the other thing I liked were the red landerns lining the walkways and I played a bit with them.


lantern1


lantern2

hope you enjoy (a bit)

Uli

Cut a single bloom off and work with it at home.
And then put it in water and enjoy it for a while.
I have sometimes tried to get the light behind the bloom rather than lighting it directly, to get the veining in the petals showing through.
Sixteen days now to our trip. Getting a bit excited.

I like very much this kind of macros Uli, talking about the flower. I like NT idea, I think it is very nice if you want to have detail, but if you are a bit more into abstract and lots of bokeh... I tend to have just the edge of the petal closer to my camera sharp and the rest blurred. This way the eye has some reference where the focus actually is. I like your composition, btw.

About bw... I am not so sure, only if you worked a high key treatment?...

My feeling about these is that you made the wrong crop. The lower petals on the magnolia bossoms should not have been cropped off. The shape of the frame suggests you just wasted them. I don't know. It just doesn't look right. I don't understand the lantern photos at all.

I don't know if you wanted such a concise crit. Butthis is my honest opinion.

thanks for your comments, and Don, your critique is welcome!
I can go back and look at the original, but I am afraid there was not much at the bottom.

Uli

Thats the way it goes. Looking at it again, it doesn't look as off as I thought.