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Postby marcotrov on Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:22 pm

A couple of flower shots at the Botanical gardens taken with the Sigma 150mm Macro exploring the effects of perspective and DOF on image. Which do you think is most effective?
Comments welcomed :)
Image
Image

cheers
marco
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Postby CraigVTR on Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:32 pm

I like the portrait orientation as it does not cut off the flower stem in the background even though it is not in the dof. Although the higher perspective and dof of the landscape shot is make the flower much clearer.

Nice shots.

Craig
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Postby owen on Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:25 pm

Hi marco, that first shot is superb. The second one is great but I really like the composition and colours in the first
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Postby Slider on Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:31 pm

Beautiful Marco. Super sharp and the colour is superb :D
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Postby beetleboy on Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:38 pm

I love them both Marco..If i was you i'd get a HUGE print of each and put them in different rooms in your house!

Liam =]
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Postby Big Red on Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:30 pm

the top one does it for me 8)
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Postby Oneputt on Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:54 pm

Marco I just love the first one. Perhaps just a little more cropped off the right hand side. But it is a great image.
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Postby mudder on Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:57 pm

Definately the first for me, I can see how the flower is suspended from the stalk, almost floating in air in the second, and the DOF gives the background *just* enough detail to be interesting enough to balance the amazing detail, sharpness and color of the flower... Looks brilliant...
Aka Andrew
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Postby marcotrov on Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:05 pm

Thanks for the gracious comments and suggestions guys. I'm slowly coming to grips with the Sigma 150mm :)
cheers
marco
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Postby johnd on Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:08 pm

Hi Marco, I like the first image the most. In the first image, the main subject at bottom left seems to work better than centred at the bottom in the second image. Probably a rule of thirds thing. I say that because if you crop some of the green off the right hand side in the first image to put the flower more central, it looses some impact. I also think the darker out of focus are top left in the first image works well.

I too have the Sigma 150 2.8 macro. It's sure taking me some getting used to. Do you find the AF hunts a fair bit and has trouble locking the focus in?

By the way, did you use a tripod for these shots. I find that even at f16 and above it's really difficult to get sharp focus without a tripod. You just sway a little forward or back and you loose the sharp focus. Do you usually use AF or manual focus?

Cheers
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Postby LostDingo on Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:11 pm

I would have to say the second is the wall hanging :D

Nice shot 8)
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Postby marcotrov on Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:22 pm

Thanks for the comments John and Paul. You are right John I almost always use a tripod. Handholding at large apertures is murder. Plane of sharp focus is so narrow the slightest wobble back and forth and you have an unsharp pic unless you are rock steady and that's not me i'm afraid. I also used some reduced (-1.7) fill flash from off camera SB600.
Yeah the lens can snap to focus instantaneously at times and at others, usually when low contrast or no defined edges it will hunt but then again I manually focus all my macros. :) It is a superb lens once you start to understand its nuances. Happy shooting.
cheers
marco
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Postby johnd on Sat Feb 25, 2006 6:25 pm

Marco, when I first got the lens I started to manually focus my macros, but I found that when I was super close, it looked sharp in viewfinder but didn't come out sharp. By super close, I mean about .2 meter, even though it's only supposed to focus down to .38 meter. I guess that might have been my problem, trying to push the lens past it's limits. I'll go give the manual focus another go.

Cheers
John
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Postby BT*ist on Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:19 pm

Hi Marco, both really good, but the first one does it for me. The darker background on the left hand side of the first shot makes the object jump out a bit more. I also like that it's off-centre, that makes it a bit different.
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Postby Frankenstein on Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:25 pm

Marco, both shots are great, but the first one is a ripper - it's so sharp and clear, and the flower is beautifully set apart from the background. Exceptional stuff!

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Postby Willigan on Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:24 am

It's no 1 for me too. The composition is great & the colours & sharpness are excellent. The darker background behind the the flower also helps to isolate it more than in the 2nd one.
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Postby Alpha_7 on Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:13 pm

Marco - Gorgeous, simple and yet so beautiful, the colours are excellent and just 'pop' of the screen. At first I couldn't decide which orientation I liked the most, but in the end I favour the portrait, but I still like the landscape one as the seperation from the background is better.
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Postby wendellt on Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:23 pm

lovely comp osition and colour contrast saturation
this is nature at it's best


never seen that type of flower what is it?
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