What do you think of this image? Nikon N6000, 80-200 zoom handheld. Exposure 1/125@f-11(sunny-16 equivalent)- Film Fuji Velvia- a black backdrop was added to simplify the subject. The the off-white flower's detail existed on the slide but was hard to scan.

-- Bahman Farzad (cpgbooks@mindspring.com), August 31, 1998

Answers

I like this picture because it is unique, and it tells me more than the usual flower shots. The leave adds some natural surrounding and some leading lines to the lotus. However, I've never seen a lotus in such position to the sun in its natural habitat. I tried to crop this pic to square shape from the bottom right corner, and I prefer the result as the big black area on the left side with the other leave in the shadow doesn't add much for me.

-- G. Avasi (avasig@hotmail.com), August 31, 1998.

Very nice. I like the transparent look of the leaf as well as the flower itself. I would agree that cropping the left side would make it even better - I would crop the entire dark leaf off and the left border would look about like the right.

-- Rod Sorensen (sorenser@mfldclin.edu), August 31, 1998.

WOW!!

This image grabs you because of the quite intriguing lighting and composition and makes you want to get closer and check it out. A very interesting idea, and technically well done!

-- Jason Fobart (jason@fobart.net), August 31, 1998.

Very wonderful photo. The dark area on the left is absolutely neccesary to contrast with the bright right side. One could crop a wee bit off the left for balance, though. I like the veining in the backlit leaf and, of course, the blooom. Well done.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), August 31, 1998.

It is very nice picture, with exposure and vertical composition. I aggree with Paul Lenson about the horizontal composure. Since picture has very light area at rigth bottom corner, a dark area on the left side is required for balance. But dark area on the left is too much. Cropping max 1:5 (not much) would improve (I think). Hamdi

-- Hamdi Ogut (oguth@ucs.orst.edu), August 31, 1998.

I forgot mentioning about top part. There is a dark area on the rigth up corner. If you crop to eliminate that dark area and some from the left you are going to have the most balanced picture. Try it and see..

Hamdi

-- Hamdi Ogut (oguth@ucs.orst.edu), August 31, 1998.

Eliminate the shiny "drop" about a third of the way in from the left. It's a bit distracting.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), August 31, 1998.

The composition and dramatic lighting make this shot. Tight cropping would have made this shot utterly mundane. From this JPEG, I guess I can't say much about sharpness (handheld shot, which, from the trouble you took setting up the backdrop, doesn't really make any sense - why no tripod?).

I'd give this a 7 or 8 though, definitely something to keep around.

-- Sean Yamamoto (seany@altavista.net), August 31, 1998.

Great shot !!!! Very original.

-- rob dalrymple (robd13@erols.com), September 01, 1998.

I came back again. Cropping, or not cropping, it all depends a very personal taste. Could you please tell us something about the setup? Is the light source natural? Is it an indoor or an outdoor shot? Thanks,

-- G. Avasi (avasig@hotmail.com), September 02, 1998.

Thanks for your unique and informative comments. I learned a lot. I have two more versions of this that I will share with you in the future. The image is real and the source of light is the morning (10-11 am) sun. The lotus plant, although outsice, was not in an open space (i.e., the full sun illuminating the entire plant) and that is what made it more interesting. For better or worse, the view and the feel of light changed every few minutes or so. The background was a seamless black paper and I used my studio stands (with a few concrete blocks used as weight to hold the stand in place) to position it correctly behind the flower. The only difference was that I pushed the bottom of the paper away from the plant (about 20 degree angle with vertical) in order to create a deep shadow and to prevent the sun to strike its surface. The lotus plant can be from 5 to 7 feet tall and the diameter of the leaves up to three feet or more and the diameter of the flower on the second day of bloom is about 10-14 inches. It also turns from pink to white (it has a useful life of about 3 days). I also had some private e-mail asking why I did not use a tripod. I use tripod with my 6X7 or 4X5 because I have to! I love selective focusing with blurred backgrounds and love my freedom of movement with a 35mm camera. Generally I'll use a tripod only with exposure times of 1/60 and longer with my 80-200mm zoom or long telephoto lenses such as 400-1200mm. Otherwise I will avoid using it! Thanks again.

-- Bahman Farzad (cpgbooks@mindspring.com), September 02, 1998.