Trip to the Nursery

Flower shooting trip
Last thursday (25th feb 2010), we went to a nursery in Jeddah(Saudi Arabia) for shooting flowers.
The trip was organized by AL ADASAH HOUSE, a Saudi photography group based in Jeddah. I Woke up very early morning (05:30 a.m) and met 3 of my friends Mukhtar, Murtada and Rustoom. Later at (7:15 a.m) we reached the meeting point in Jeddah. We waited and eventually nearly 25 members joined us (boys/girls). Most amazingly I found out that the Nursery is located inside the International Airport AREA. I've seen planes flying over our heads so many times and We were warned not to take any pictures of flying planes. It was like Nursery was on the RUNWAY. At 08:00 a.m. we started taking pictures in the designated areas of Nursery and finished at 10:00 a.m.
I took 432 pictures in those two hours and found just (ONLY) 14 pictures interesting or notable in my view (as I think). But I am not sorry for that because this was my first time taking pictures of flowers without any teacher's (anyone's) instruction. Beside that I noticed that most of the peoples were using COSTLY MACRO and ZOOM lenses, while I was shooting with a normal (18-55mm) Lense. Though I didn't manage to take good pics, but I am happy to learn something new from those practical actions.
Anyway, Here I am glad to share those 14 pics with you and looking forward to see your comments.

Thank you...

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#1 - Composition suffering with the subject smack dab in the middle. Focus too soft. Exposure slightly overexposed.

#2 - Overexposed & soft.

#3 - Overexposed & soft. You need to get the flowers off center.

#4 - Top notch photo. Good composition, exposure & focus. Excellent control of depth of field. Bravo!

#5 - Overexposed & soft.

#6 - An interesting photo with unusual composition. My eye wanders.

#7 - Much better composition, focus & perfect exposure. Good photo.

#8 - If this photo were a little sharper it would be great. Love the blurred background & color.

#9 - Now this is more like it. Subject matter very interesting. Good depth of field control. A "Keeper".

#10 -Another good shot that could use more contrast and a bit more sharpening.

#11 - Great composition that could use more contrast & possibly a levels adjustment. Good composition.

#12 - Don't care for the composition because of the similar colors in the flower. You might try a levels & contrast adjustment to separate the elements of the flower.

#13 - Again, a nice shot suffering from a lack of "pop".

#14 - Possible the best of the set. I like everything about this photo. Great job!

Overall impressions: With additional post processing a lot of you photos would be "Keepers". You should add a light vignette to most of your shots to draw the viewer's eye to your main subject. Work on better focusing. If you're hand holding your camera try using a tripod. Most of the photos could use more contrast & a levels adjustment.

Examples of post processing enhancements:

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Taking any pictures that are mainly red are notoriously hard, cameras for some reason just don't like that colour and to get anything decent needs that extra bit of attention. With the lens you had they came out well, but like everything else you really need the right lens for the job in hand.
I am not one for doing much editing but as Bob has demonstrated improvements can be made.
First attempts of shooting anything do serve a purpose even if not as one would like the result to be. It enables you to find out the mistakes and be able to do better next time.

I find that people tend to specialise in a subject as shown by members of this forum, one can become an expert in a subject area but not so good when taking photos of something different.

Everyone sees something different, even the same picture can be tweeked to suit how people percieve it, so any criticism is a matter of personal choice.

I won't comment on individual picture because Bob has already done that, but I will say the more study of taking pictures of flowers the better you will become.

There are some fantastic video hints/tips/tutorials on this site if you look through them on all subjects

www.photoanswers.co.uk

Bazza

After reading Bazza'a post I might add that since the perceived problems I mention, ie, contrast, can be corrected within the camera. Exposure compensation can correct over exposure & a tripod can help focus problems. It's always best to get the best shot possible in the camera. It's sure easier than making the same adjustment over and over again on the entire set.

Nice shots S, my faves are: 3 4 9 12 13

Considering the lens you had I think you have done a great job.
As already pointed out there are some focus and exposure issues with some of them but overall I think you have a set you can be proud of.
You have captured some great details with some good composition.
Well done.
Number 9 is my favourite.

I think you have tried really hard there, some are really good! At least you are trying and with the advice and comments already made things can only get better!