Overshadowed Obvious

[die Blende]

Hi I am starting back photography after a long break and wish to relearn and learn more about photography. Thank you.

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
i would like critique on the composition, this is cropped to make the subject abit tighter
critique on shooting technique, this was taken with 55-200 lens at 200mm,
evaluative meterimg, iso 200, 1/250, f5.6 handheld
this was taken in the afternoon under very harsh light and the 1st few exposure was not
to my liking due to the direct sunlight. so i underexposed the shot
and adjust in LR when post processing.
critique in post processing, this was taken as JPEG with in camera vivid processing
PP was to increase the exposure and slightly increase highlights

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
i wanted to capture how the red tip of the leave was still standing out although it was surrounded by masses of other greens

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
These picture was taken in Sembawang Park in the afternoon. first time doing shots of close ups. was finding for a subject to experiment/play with shooting close-ups and bokeh and subject isolation.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
i personally like the shot a lot but some how i think its not sharp enough or my handheld technique not good enough or maybe getting old:embrass: . I'd also really like to hear suggestions on how to make it more sharp. do i need a monopod/tripod?? did i focus correctly?? or is it the lens??

thanks

 

[wildsoyabean]

I would prefer a tighter crop.
Seems too many things to see...and the red flower is sooooo small.

 

[die Blende]

I would prefer a tighter crop.
Seems too many things to see...and the red flower is sooooo small.

point noted... may be i should go back and try to snap the same shot but this time with close up filters attached.

for the above shot i was already at min. focusing distance of the 55-200 lens

thanks

 

[Bcool]

This looks like part of a x'mas tree that I put out in my living room during Christmas. I like the shallow DOF which helps to bring focus to the red tip and the uncluttered background and bokeh around it also helps to accentuate it further.

Exposure seems to be okay and the different shades of greens adds to the overall tonality of the image. Focus and sharpness look good and considering the shallow DOF, any further increase in USM would have render the image to be overly sharp and killing of this shot.

My only nit is that you got too much head room which isn't doing much. A tighter crop would certainly help.

 

[die Blende]

This looks like part of a x'mas tree that I put out in my living room during Christmas. I like the shallow DOF which helps to bring focus to the red tip and the uncluttered background and bokeh around it also helps to accentuate it further.

Exposure seems to be okay and the different shades of greens adds to the overall tonality of the image. Focus and sharpness look good and considering the shallow DOF, any further increase in USM would have render the image to be overly sharp and killing of this shot.

My only nit is that you got too much head room which isn't doing much. A tighter crop would certainly help.

hi bcool thanks for your comments

i tried to crop the image further to get a tighter look for the red tip but due to

1. this is a handheld shot any further cropping will really kill it​

2.since it was already severely under exposed and adjusted in
LR further cropping shows noise in the shadow areas very unpleasingly​

nonetheless point taken i will retake the pic with a tripod and see where it goes from there (my limitation is the close focusing distance of my lens 55-200 or maybe i'll try with the 18-70 lens) hopefully i can eliminate the handshake problem and see wether i can crop it cleanly
or
close-up filters/raynox(cannot afford macro lens at the momment )

any suggestions

 

[Stoned]

I find that it's really too busy. You have lines going almost everywhere and the picture looks almost entirely out of control.

I feel you have to attribute more attention to your subject and not have it dwarfed by the surrounding mess.

 

[jo-squared]

I think the shallow depth of field works wonderfully for this subject. The focus looks fine to me. The subject itself is beautiful, the only problem is highlighting it out.

I suggest making some curves and levels changes in photoshop and increasing the saturation of the red to fully bring out the redness of the flower while de-emphasizing the clutter of leaves. The curves and levels changes will also create a more dynamic colour palette.

This is the changes I have done. Please tell me if you want this removed.

 

[die Blende]

Hi Jo,
u made the subject more standing out and it's looks beautiful. Tones and curves aspect of photography I'm still learning I understand nuts about curves in LR or CS. but looking at what its capable of from how u edited my pic it's abt time I put some time to learn it.

Thanks for ur guide and comments