Spring Tulip

by Fiona Mallett
(Newcastle upon Tyne UK)

With this shot I was actually just playing around with the camera (Nikon D40) I thought the colours on the petals were really pretty and wanted to try to capture that.

Fiona.
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My wife and I were talking the other day about the seasons, and trying to decide which was our favourite.

Clearly it was a slow day, there can't have been much on the television and our two nippers must have been having a rare moment of calm.

For some reason, to fill this unexpected void in our weekend, we found ourselves chatting about seasons.

We have now had two sunny weekends, and our barbecue has seen some recent action, so we can now officially declare spring is here.

And with it the flowers have emerged from their winter hibernation to welcome in the sunshine with us.

Which means there are rich pickings for photographers.

And you don’t have to look far either. I'll bet Fiona didn't have to travel far to find a specimen such as this to photograph.

A little tip there – don't feel you have to travel the Earth in search of a photo opportunity. Take a good look at your local surroundings and you might just find some photographic gold.

So back to Fiona's photo. It is nicely shot. One of the key things here (and well done Fiona) is to make use of the aperture on your camera to reduce the depth of field.

Doing this really focuses attention on the flower and makes it stand out from its background.

The colours are also really good here. Clearly the sun was out, and this is usually a good time to be taking photos – but beware of the midday sun! It can do two things – burn you, and wash out photos if it's too bright.

Better to make use of the golden hour (see 'Tip 2') on sunny days. This will ensure nice rich saturated colours.

So is there anything I would change about Fiona's photo? Only one thing, and that's the crop.

The square crop has fallen out of favour in recent decades. If it were a TV it would be the 14inch colour portable at the back of the electronics store, hidden from view by 40inch LCD screens.

For this photo I think it should be brought out of retirement. A square crop would reduce the emptiness to the sides of this flower. It's a small thing, but I think it's worth a go.

All in all, this is a really nice photo, thanks for the submission Fiona.

And by the way, we decided spring was our favourite season.

Darrell.
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