Flowers past their prime

3 years ago by dsigned to c/photocritique

It’s been several decades since I’ve opened my photography up for critique. I was a photography major back in the day and gave it up as a professional track so i could feed and house myself. I now really only share my photos with three friends. But there isn’t much in the way of actionable feedback - I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This photo was taken on a piece of white paper under a skylight on a cloudy day with my iPhone. I made a few small edits to bring the reds out (such a hard color to get right in digital photography).

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DickinsonSA 2 points 3 years ago

Looks great, can you explain how you bring out the reds if, as you say, they're such a hard color?

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path: 0 439356, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 5

dsigned 2 points 3 years ago

Thanks!

Yeah - so reds are tricky with Digital. They blow out easily (it’s something to do with the sensor being more sensitive to that part of the spectrum). Every picture is a little different, in this case, shooting under a cloudy sky helps to reduce extreme shadows while still achieving a perfectly white background with diffuse lighting. In editing I added back a tiny bit of contrast and depth in the black to get more distinction between the petals and the floret.

I kept the flowers and a few days later under slight brighter sky I desaturated and reduced the contrast.

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path: 0 439356 440997, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 4

DickinsonSA 3 points 3 years ago

A very instructive set of contents - I never realised that red caused any particular problem. Many thanks for the info and the tips on your workflow - they'll come in useful when I'm out and about spotting red poppies (ie today).

So you took two sets of shots then (... a few days later you said) - no merging or photoshopping of them?

Good to chat, thanks again for the help.

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path: 0 439356 440997 445319, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 3

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