Sunflower with a Little Surprise

by Jolene Doering
(Elko, British Columbia, Canada)

What I like about this shot is that I was completely focused on taking a picture of the flower as I walked by it one day on my way to work.

But upon placing it on the computer for editing and saving, I realized that I had also captured a "tiny" little fly of some sort...I hadn't even noticed it when I composed the shot, but there it was, on the captured image anyways.

A delicately perched, little fly, on a petal of the flower.

I was amazed at how "light weight" it must be as the petals aren't even out of place with the weight of the fly on it.

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Fly aside, I just like the photo!

I've talked endlessly about composition - it really is the starting point for great photography.

Without good composition it doesn't matter what you are taking a photo of (flower or fly!) it will just seem very mediocre.

With that in mind I have also mentioned the rule of thirds more times than I can remember because it's a great starting point for good composition.

However, as I have also stated many times it is a rule and rules are made to be broken. There are many situations when a composition looks better when you don't follow the rule.

And I think Jolene has a good example here. For some reason the flower seems like it is almost leaping out of the photo to greet us. This is emphasised by the space left empty on the right of the photo.

So, fly or no fly, this is a nice photo. Thanks for the submission Jolene.

Darrell.

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