DSS SOOC - First Tries - Thoughts pls?

Jenn · June 22, 2011

I set out to take photos of many different things and here are the better images. I re-set my camera to take smaller size photos and tried different settings in different kinds of lighting to see if I could get a really nice photo. I have a couple of favorites, and I know a few of them aren't as good as they could be, but are any of them "really" good enough for this challenge? I could use your thoughts.

1. Spider and Web

2. Morning Garden

3. Trumpet Vine Morning Meal

4. Potato Blossom

5. Daylilly Soaking Up The Sun

6. Cucumber Blossom Seeking Shade

7. Quiet Support

8. The Strength Behind

9. Innocent Eyes

konomaniac · June 22, 2011

3 & 4 work for me. Maybe there's a picture looming in the background of #7.

MarkR · June 22, 2011

I'm grooving on #1. Neat composition, and I like the plants in the bottom to anchor the shot.

red_zone · June 22, 2011

Jen,
My favorite of this set is #2, morning garden, and then in order, 4, 1, and 9. The others just don't stand out to me, a few have the background in better focus than what I'd expect to be the main subject, and some the background is just really busy.

Also, I have a case of extreme garden envy. Those look like luscious plants that will make some delicious fresh vegetables in a few short weeks!

angevin1 · June 22, 2011

MarkR wrote: »

I'm grooving on #1. Neat composition, and I like the plants in the bottom to anchor the shot.

Mee too!

travelways · June 22, 2011

angevin1 wrote: »

Mee too!

WhatSheSaw · June 22, 2011

red_zone wrote: »

Jen,
Also, I have a case of extreme garden envy. Those look like luscious plants that will make some delicious fresh vegetables in a few short weeks!

Me, too!

In #1, the spider is blown out. Nice shot of the web. I took a few shots of some orb weaver babies that my son could not even look at. He is such a wimp when it comes to spiders.

Any time I have posted spider shots, they have not gotten a good response here. The folks in the macro forum are definitely not spider wimps!

I like the light in #4, but it looks a little soft. If you could go -1/3 or -2/3 on the EV, you might preserve a little more detail in the white and drop the BG a bit darker, making it pop a little more. You may also have a macro button or mode on you camera - usually denoted by a flower symbol. My Kodak P&S has this and it does a decent job in closeups.

I also like the light in #6, but I think it would be better if you got a bit closer - maybe the post and 4 squares that include the flower. It also looks a little soft. And it might work better if the flower were in sunlight so it would pop more from the BG.

You also might do some playing with the picket fence in the BG of the daylillies shot.

rbustraen · June 22, 2011

#1 and #4 work for me, the spider already mentioned is blown, but if my daughter had her way, it would be squished

- Randy

sapphire73 · June 22, 2011

I like #1 and #4.... You might want to try reshooting number 4 - the potato blossom with some different compositions. I like the backlighting but think you might be able to frame this a bit tighter....

Jenn · June 23, 2011

ok I'm kind of puzzled..

1 - 6 likes
2 - 1 like
3 - 1 like
4 - 5 likes
6 & 7 - not sures
9- 1 like

I don't understand why the spider web shot got so many likes even though the spider was blown? I kind of like it, but almost didn't post it because the spider WAS blown.

# 4 got 5 likes.. I took maybe 35 shots using different angles and settings with that potato blossom. I'm pretty sure that blossom isn't there anymore tho. I can try to see if I can get another blossom if anymore are there.

red_zone .. about the garden envy ..

We have so many tomatos on those vines it's crazy. They like it there! That bed they are in was a last minute thrown together bed made out of garden extras and dirt we dug up to create 3- 4x8 raised beds. The tomatoes raised bed is like maybe 3 feet off the ground. We had taken down a fence and moved it but the fence posts were left in the ground, so we took all our garden extras like 2x4's and concrete blocks and made a raised bed around these 2 fenceposts. My husband fancied it up some by building a frame between the fence posts and we put wire on the frame for cucumbers and pole beans to climb on the opposite east side the tomatoes are on. Between the tomatos and back side of the trellis we planted mini watermelons and cantelope.. so in all there is cucumbers, pole beans, watermelons, and cantelope all climbing at the same time. Since the tomatoes are planted on the east side of the trellis, they get the morning sun and get shaded from the hot afternoon sun coming from the west. Hopefully, that'll make the tomatoes want to set fruit longer since they get shaded on the hottest part of the day. There's also chocolate mint, golden sage, rosemary, and basil planted on the outside edge of the west side of the raised bed. Want some chocolate mint?

In our other raised beds we planted cabbage, brussel sprouts, eggplant, cayenne/jalepeno/bell peppers, 3 kinds of onions, cilantro, italian parsley, oregano, onions, potatos, salad greens, and a few other odds and ends. I also set up an automated drip irrigation system on a timer so I don't have to worry about watering anything!

Now, I just have to worry about tying up monster tomato vines.

Molotov Everything · June 23, 2011

Well #1 is probably the most interesting subject matter. Would be nice if the lighting could come up from below the camera to get less exposure on the ground, I think it would be neat to see just a web floating in black space. Either that or get the whole camera lower and angle up to get the ground out of the background.

I like the flower in #3 better than the flower in #4, but I just think the fence makes for a lousy background.

Jenn · June 23, 2011

Molotov Everything wrote: »

Well #1 is probably the most interesting subject matter. Would be nice if the lighting could come up from below the camera to get less exposure on the ground, I think it would be neat to see just a web floating in black space. Either that or get the whole camera lower and angle up to get the ground out of the background.

I like the flower in #3 better than the flower in #4, but I just think the fence makes for a lousy background.

I wish I could put an order in with the spider and get it to build another web in a better place to photograph!

One evening there were 2 webs built right next to each other about the same size. I guess thats a good place for catching spider food!

Oh and the fence bg... those trumpet vines are growing on the fence and there isn't any angle I can take a photo of them w/o the fence being in the bg.

lkbart · June 24, 2011

On #1, you did a nice job of illuminating the spider web to make it show up - & it's a nice big web - impressive, even though the spider is blown. #2 seems very busy & my eye wanders with nothing specific to draw attention. #3 is too soft - I want to see the detail in the ants - & the flower seems too centered. The fence doesn't bother me at all. #4 - the brightness of the petals compared to the middle of the flower is a bit strong, but the comp is pretty good. #5 - there is too much distraction in the background. #6 - the focus looks soft & the flower is a bit too centered to me, also might look better if shot with darker settings but a bit of fill flash (or a bit more if you used it). #7 & #8 - seems like the focus should be on the flowers rather than the wood pieces. #9 - cute perspective - her eye looks huge! But I see something like noise that makes her eyelashes & parts of her eyebrow look spotted.

dlscott56 · June 24, 2011

#1 is cool but the spider's a little too hot. #3 is nice but would have liked to see a shallower DOF there.

billseye · June 25, 2011

Add one to #4 from me. I think it's the strongest of the set.

anniemax · June 25, 2011

I like the translucence of the white petal in #4. #1 is the most interesting to me - I found myself checking out the pattern of the web.

Jenn · June 27, 2011

Thanks everyone .. I got more votes for #1 and #4 ..

Do you think any of my shots of Daylilly's a-f are better than my #1 or #4? I took a lot of different positions and settings and these came out better than the rest. Thanks!

Here's some more:

10. beefsteak tomatos (I know this is probably too dark, but I put it up here so red_zone could see some of my tomatoes!

11. Daylilly -a

11. Daylilly - b

12. Daylilly - c

13. Daylilly -d

14. Daylilly - e

15. Daylilly - f

red_zone · June 29, 2011

Jenn - I missed this thread when you re-posted pictures... but I found it again!
MMmmm those tomatoes look delicious. I have plans for raised beds in my tiny back yard... but the rest of the house "must" be done first, or so my wife says. .sigh. I would love to engineer a drip irrigation system for the entire back yard and just grow a jungle back there.

I really like the Day Lily photo that you ended up choosing for the competition. I think that the time of day is perfect (I'm not usually one for mid-day sun) and that if the fence weren't in shadow that it wouldn't have been nearly as good. I like the dark fence background with the bright stripes of sky and the brilliantly lit flower in the foreground.

Jenn · June 30, 2011

red_zone wrote: »

Jenn - I missed this thread when you re-posted pictures... but I found it again!
MMmmm those tomatoes look delicious. I have plans for raised beds in my tiny back yard... but the rest of the house "must" be done first, or so my wife says. .sigh. I would love to engineer a drip irrigation system for the entire back yard and just grow a jungle back there.

Would you believe those tomatoes are STILL getting bigger?? No signs of turning red yet, either. I covered them up with a bucket on one side to hide them from any hungry birds, too!

If you decide to do the drip irrigation... I can show you what I did. It really isn't all that hard and it saves time standing out and watering everything by hand. I did both my front and back yard... plus I have a dripper clipped to a bucket to put fresh water into it for my dog every time the timer waters my garden!

red_zone wrote: »

I really like the Day Lily photo that you ended up choosing for the competition. I think that the time of day is perfect (I'm not usually one for mid-day sun) and that if the fence weren't in shadow that it wouldn't have been nearly as good. I like the dark fence background with the bright stripes of sky and the brilliantly lit flower in the foreground.

Thanks! I couldn't decide what to enter so went with the better image of the lilly, although there are several lillies entered already. I didn't notice that 'til after I entered mine. Oh well!

I don't really expect to be in the top 5 either way because there are so many good photos I'm up against.

DSS SOOC - First Tries - Thoughts pls?

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