Crystal clear

by Jessica
(Sarasota, Fl)

I took this picture using my new Nikon D40.

I love experimenting with focusing on certain areas of a picture so that other things are blurry. I like the contrast of it.

I was at a local park when I took this shot and thought it was a pretty neat picture.....but that's coming from an amateur! Ha.

I'd be interested to know what I could improve.

I have really enjoyed your website and your tips as well. Thanks!


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Certainly found some colourful blooms in that local park!

Taking pictures of flowers should result in some fabulous results – after all, they're colourful, interesting shapes . . . what's not to like?

There are two ways to approach flower shots. Either capture a riot of colour taking in many blooms, or focus attention on just one flower.

Jessica clearly went for the latter here.

It's good to see that she has attempted to blur the background and keep the flower in sharp focus. It really helps the flower to stand out in the scene.

This effect is achieved by creative use of the aperture.

I don't know what aperture was set here, but I suspect it wasn't wide open. Had it been set wider the background would have been really thrown out of focus, which I think would have made a small improvement.

As it stands though, the flower in the foreground is really nice and crisply focussed – well done there!

The thing that really strikes me though is not the level of blur, but more the composition.

Take the flower first; it sits really low in the frame. I think it would have been better if it had sat higher in the frame, perhaps even portrait rather than landscape.

The second thing about the composition is the blue building in the background.

If Jessica had rotated around the flower a little then this blue building would have been removed from the frame completely. I think this would have really focussed the viewer on the flower.

The final tip I can suggest here is in post processing. Boost the contrast a little, and then the saturation, and I think the flower will really stand out.

All in all though this is a nice, well though out, photo.

Thanks Jesicca for the submission, and I hope there are a couple of useful tips here.

Ed.
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