In the Shadow of a Flower
Just a try ;)
Added to Flickr Explore (Interestingness) of the day 5 June 2006
I couldn't see the LCD or finder koz the flower was about 10cm tall (1/3 foot), and I'd put my cam close to the ground. So just tried to adjust the lens inside the shadow of the flower first center of it, to lock the AF, and then by the rule of the thirds to catch a good cadre. All exposure adjustments are automatic.
Comments and faves
xenonb., Sharon Taylor Photography of Kettering, Horsman, Amy56, and 137 other people added this photo to their favorites.
gwilmore (85 months ago | reply)
A successful try, if you ask me! :-)
nothing special (85 months ago | reply)
this is cool!
strangemagee (85 months ago | reply)
perfect glow
1-2-3n
majeczka_majeczka (85 months ago | reply)
Interesting macro!
Olivka (85 months ago | reply)
Ah! How beautiful!
stephen_pix (85 months ago | reply)
Very unique. Very cool!
From the Flower macroism group.
29cm (85 months ago | reply)
So lovely!
Renata Diem (85 months ago | reply)
Wonderful angle!
(123 Nature)
AlexYoung (85 months ago | reply)
Great photo.
Danton pix (85 months ago | reply)
It looks like the flower itself could be the sun! Terrific job! (1-2-3 Nature)
The Naked Artisan (85 months ago | reply)
I love how it glows.
(1-2-3 Nature)
ALLIZ in Wonderland [deleted] (85 months ago | reply)
Superb photography
J Gilbert (85 months ago | reply)
That's a good idea. Well done.
CurveTo (85 months ago | reply)
oh! this's so great!.. the flower seems like the sun!
S n o R k e l (85 months ago | reply)
Hey Hamed!
It seems like we have so much in common...
Harold Davis (85 months ago | reply)
Great backlighting!
pigoritm (85 months ago | reply)
Beautiful composition! Great work...
Nazanin Banani (85 months ago | reply)
Vaghean Mesle Khorshid Shode ... !! Wonderfull !!
xenonb. (85 months ago | reply)
Superb light and great angle, love it!
1-2-3 Nature
girloblique (85 months ago | reply)
so very pretty.
catmadogma [deleted] (85 months ago | reply)
I had one very similar today but without this fabulous lighting. Beautiful shot!! Macro 1-2-3
Atry (85 months ago | reply)
WOW
Great idea and good job Hamed!
Merly *Sunflower* Busy *on and off* (85 months ago | reply)
Great job Hamed! I like how it transmit the iight into the flower!
Hamed Saber (85 months ago | reply)
Thanks everybody
@gwilmore Of course I ask you ;)
@Olvika Welcome to my photostream :)
@Flirtsalut Welcome back, sorry if I injured your heart...
@Snorkel It seems I should traverse your photostream before making any shot decision, koz with a probability of more than 50%, I could find what in my mind in your stream ;)
Aidin mahmoodi [deleted] (85 months ago | reply)
vaghean fogholade ast
boshra (85 months ago | reply)
Well done...it's so crispy
giddy_lyn (85 months ago | reply)
Absolutely beautiful!! I love the angle you chose for this.
Dricota © [deleted] (85 months ago | reply)
Wow!!!!
Wonderful shot!
The colors are beauty!
S n o R k e l (85 months ago | reply)
:)
...Add to the line of our common interests, my passion for the sea, and diving (although I had only the chance to snorkel from time to time)
Sharon Taylor Photography of Kettering (85 months ago | reply)
wow another fav.
Tahereh! (85 months ago | reply)
very cool
Hamed Saber (85 months ago | reply)
@Aidin, giddy, Dricota, ddam, baamieh: Thank you all for your nice comments.
@Boshra تو به اين قرار فليكر تهران ميرسي؟
Cajie (85 months ago | reply)
Superb work done here. And your explanation of how you took the shot only makes it that more interesting.
Cultkid (85 months ago | reply)
****************************
Technical 2/5
Impact 3/5
Achieved Aim 3/5
Opinion 2/5
TOTAL 10/20
(from the Critical Masses group)
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Technically, it's somewhat overexposed, and marginally out of focus. The leaves and stems in the foreground are distracting to me. If you want to capture these sorts of shots, it's usually better to wait for late afternoon when the sun is at a lower angle and not so harsh. Your photos will come out less glaring and garish if you wait for the warmer evening light. If you insist on taking the shot during the day as you have, I would suggest changing to TV and setting your shutter speed much faster so that the sun isn't so blinding.
ugii (85 months ago | reply)
beautiful!!
Hamed Saber (85 months ago | reply)
@theXenon: Thank you for your totally revenge scores. BTW, your comments are constructive, even I'm not agree with you in most of them. But a question: What is "TV"?
Serge Marx (85 months ago | reply)
tv = time value
we used to called shutter priorty until the people who know better than us changed it.
essentially, you select the shutter speed - the camera selects the aperture. Commonly used to capture fast moving objects.
I don't actually agree with the xenon here. i think the way you've composed the sun behind the flower is pretty cool - although the darker areas of the shot are distracting. Maybe some very softly diffused fill flash could have given us some highlights up front while retaining the glow around the flower. Maybe try the same thing again, but with a single flower, and no other distracting elements. this way you might demonstrate the concept you were going for better.
Hamed Saber (85 months ago | reply)
@21st fotojux! ;)
Thank you for your complete description.
Cultkid (85 months ago | reply)
Just for the record Hamed, I don't revenge score. The criterion I base my scoring on can be found on the front page of the Critical Masses group which I help to administer just because I LIKE constructive criticism, and I LIKE tough scoring. I am not part of the group to have my ego stroked and my hand held. I am here to learn, participate and socialize with my photographic peers.
Here are the guidelines I use:
1 - bad
2 - amateur
3 - average
4 - almost there
5 - perfect
I consider your shot amatuer, and I don't think you achieved your aim, or at least what I understood your aim to be. Sorry that you don't like my score. If you want a better score, go back, follow my suggestions and/or 21st's suggestions and re-post the photo. I'm sure you'll get a better score the second time around if you follow the constructive criticism rather than accusing me of revenge scoring.
Hamed Saber (85 months ago | reply)
@theXenon:
Thank you for your explanation. However I thought your score (not your comments) is some kind of revenge. If you claim that it is not, okay, i'll accept!
FYI, I accept the focus problem, but I think there is no lighting or exposure mistake. The sun light and the colors are exactly what I wanted to be. About the bushes, I think it's about opinion and may change people to people. You know, in my opinion, I like them, I have another shot in my computer without them, but I don't like it and prefer this one.
Anyway thank oyu for coming back with smile ;)
Cultkid (85 months ago | reply)
No problem Hamed.
I appreciate harder scoring on my own pictures because it challenges me to be better. I realize not everyone is like this, and yes, even in this group many people come so that they can have a bunch of strangers tell them how wonderful their shots are.
Criticism can be hard to take, especially if you feel it's unjustly deserved. However, once you accept that even the most "unfair" criticism holds some truth, then you can apply what you've learned and create better images. At least, that's my own opinion. :)
I think one thing people forget is that while there is a definite technical side and technical scoring to this group, there is an equal amount of subjective scoring as well (impact and opinion). By necessity, no matter how objective you can be on the technical side of things, at least half of everyone's score is going to be the scorer's personal opinion.
Jocelyn Bassler (85 months ago | reply)
I like the composition and the idea of using the sun in this way. I have to agree with some of Xenon's comments. The brightness doesn't so much bother me - I like the effect around the head of the flower and the the colors are nice. But there's just no focus to this at all. If you set it on shutter priority (I still call it that =P) at a rapid speed, it should still give you a nice big aperture so that you keep the DOF (if you reshoot)...I would think...someone correct me if I'm wrong. You might lose some of your color, though. Personally, I like it the way it is with the exception of the lack of focus...which ruins it, unfortunately. Sorry! Great idea and a hard shot to do, I'm sure.
****************************
Technical 2/5
Impact 3/5
Achieved Aim 3/5
Opinion 2/5
TOTAL 10/20
(from the Critical Masses group)
****************************
Hengam (85 months ago | reply)
Great great shot!
* Curious, the word "Saber", your last name, in spanish means knowlege !
Serge Marx (85 months ago | reply)
Technical 3/5
Impact 3/5
Achieved Aim 3/5
Opinion 3/5
TOTAL 12/20
Firstly - great title! Secondly - great idea!
Next... well, I made some comments above which I stand by. If your foreground is to be a part of the picture, it should hold our interest a bit more. Understand you intentions with the focus - not sure if it worked here though. I also understand why you lioek the shot - I would too.
I'd love to see this theme explored as a series - a whole range of different flowers backlit by the sun. how cool would that be!
(from the Critical Masses group)
Hamed Saber (85 months ago | reply)
@Hengam: Knowledge?! I didn't know! Thanks a lot :)
FYI, Saber means some kind of fence in English (also Sabre). But the original meaning of my family is "Who has patience".
@theXenon: I didn't understand yet that how the Shutter Priority (S Mode) can help this shot. As you can see in the EXIF, the shutter speed was 1000, I think it's a fast shutter speed! (At least the fastes of my camera). How it could help the shot if I increase the shutter speed, I don't know!
@jocie: You know, if the problem was DOF, I should choose the Aperture Priority, not the Shutter Priority mode, koz the shutter speed does not affect the DOF, but the aperture will affect it! I know this, and as you can see again in EXIF, I choosed F/4 for aperture, the largest one I could select because of shutter speed limit (my camera has F/2.8 to F/8). I didn't choose a thighter aperture because I wanted to blur the foreground bushes. If I tried more on the focus, the shot should have less problems of course. But if due to theXenon's suggestion, I increase the shutter speed, the DOF would be shallower and shallower, so the focus should be harder and harder, exactly the reverse of what you said.
Serge Marx (85 months ago | reply)
what was suggested was that you can select a super high shutter speed and a super wide aperture. But since you only go to 1/1000 - maybe drop your iso as low as it can go... which it may have been. I should probably read your exif before making comments like that! ;-)
Jocelyn Bassler (85 months ago | reply)
right, that's what i was saying - you want that large aperture for a good shallow DOF. i like the DOF you have here, so my concern was with using the shutter priority, would you lose your DOF if the aperture is set automatically. I would think with a really high shutter speed the camera would give you the large aperture you want. when i say large aperture i mean the size of the hole, not the number. is that where you're confused?
Sniper Adams [deleted] (85 months ago | reply)
Well what can i say. Very original. Great photo. But of course you need as the above comments stated. Shallow DOF. Super-wide aperture. Very small ISO. And of course super-fast shutter. If I were you I would take a film camera with 50iso velvia transparency. Film would work very well here in these extreme conditions. Also, Hamed, if you use a telephoto lens with an extension tube for macro you will get a really shallow DOF and you don't have to close in on the flower. But you may find the DOF a bit too shallow. The other way is to use a telephoto lens woth a macro setting. Telephoto's would give you a shallower DOF and a flatter background. Also, I don't think theXenon gave you a revenge score. We all love our photos but we have to understand sometimes that they may be not as good technically as we'd like them to be. I think this photo still works as a very small one. This way you can't see that its overexposed and out of focus. Might be a good postcard. Oh yes, almost forgot. Although a polarising filter may kill a stop it works real good in sunny weather -)
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Technical 3/5
Impact 4/5
Achieved Aim 4/5
Opinion 3.5/5
TOTAL 14.5/20
(from the Critical Masses group)
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Jake Lowe (85 months ago | reply)
Technical 3/5
I'm assuming you wanted the focus on the petals however it doesn't quite get there (really only a fraction out). I think you could have used a slightly smaller aperture so that the yellow part of the flower was also in focus as well as the petals. I do like the exposure however, I think the glare works quite well.
Impact 3/5
I think that the busy foreground detracts from this piece and diverts the viewers attention from where it should be (the flower)
Achieved Aim 3/5
See the comments for technical and impact.
Opinion 3/5
This shot does have alot of potential and at first glance. Before I full viewed it, it really did look great. However when the finer details came into place there were a few things that just weren't quite 'there'
TOTAL 12/20
(from the Critical Masses group)
T O K T A M (85 months ago | reply)
this is amazing.......... so beautiful!