Prickly Pear

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/IMGP3288.jpg

I shall submit this for critique. It is straight from the camera, and taken a few years ago. The flower of the prickly pear is very waxy and translucent.

Dave

I'm currently on my phone but will get back to you Dave when I'm on a desktop

Data for photo above:

APS-C sensor (1.5x crop factor)
ISO 100
focal length 50mm (75mm equivalent on a 35mm film camera)
shutter speed 1/1000
aperture: 2.8
no flash.

And after a quick edit
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...psncahllxw.jpg

Would let Rick critique.

IMO, Like the first pic, before the edit :)

Hey Dave, finally (partially) back :)

I said i'd get back to your shot, so here I am.

The first shot. First, I will say that there is much to say about shooting flowers wide open. The technique lends itself well to these beauties. It gives them this nice hazy feel around the edges and it encourages you to focus on the center of the flower. Your first shot does this marvelously. The setting is a perfect contrast of the beauty of this flower and the prickly surrounding that it lives amongst. It gives you a sense of hope and has much artistic oooompph.

Now, with the second shot, I will say that it does the opposite of what is being conveyed in the first shot. Your PP selection has made it so that this flower looks more like the surrounding subjects. In my personal opinion, you have overworked the shot and have negated much of the beauty of this delicate subject. Had you being sharing with us shots of the prickly pear on its own, then the PP would have been more appropriate for this subject on its own. Or, rather, you could have made the prickly pear the main subject and had the flower blurred in the background for contrast and this shot would have worked much better.

Of the two the first is my favorite, and both are nicely framed. A bit too central for my taste, but the surrounding helps veil this center subject placement.

Thanks for sharing with us Dave :)

Thank you Rick for your honest critique. I too like the first better :)