Rare photo... Comments?

I rarely shoot macro, and even more rarely shoot flowers.

This is shot with the DIY ring flash I made some time ago.
The exif:
K-7 - M100mm Macro - f16, 1/30sec, ISO100...

Please tell me what you think as I would really appreciate comments.
THank you

[IMG]http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u332/nathanever82/Orchid-2.jpg[/IMG]

It a beautiful crisp shot, totally in focus, well done! Maybe you can tell the rest of us how you’ve done your DIY Ring Flash? Mind sharing?

Eh eh

Its in a post on this forum... just look for it

I think you should share more of this macro shots...LOve it...its as if I could reach out and touch it..

Hi Nathan,
I am sorry, but it doesn't work for me. It's pin sharp where it should be, so that's not the problem. The used composition is my major concern.
The green stems, the oof but too present second flower head at the top and the blown out highlights far right and bottom right are to distracting for my taste. The solid black areas aren't helping out either.

Personally I think cropping away everything but the main subject would result in a more pleasing picture. Raising the lighting on the left and central leaf would balance it out just fine.

Martin.

Sorry Nathan - doesn't do it for me either
My initial impressions are: my eye is drawn to the right green stem first, back to the part of a stem on the left, then to the centre of the flower. From there, it's annoying that the petals have been cropped as I can't see the whole thing!

But that's just my view...
Matt

the blossom is somehow sitting on the bottom. The crop is too tight in the bottom and too loose on the sides.
Lot of disturbing around.
The highlights are wierd on the bottom.

I would work for bringing out the texture of the petals (the surface). Its so nice - can be seen there, but might be the "main object"
How - have no idea. I do not know anything about flashes As a lack of knowledge I tend to use natural light

The lighting & composition are off for me also. As Matt says, it's almost the whole flower so not being able to see the lower petals is off-putting.
The straight on composition & harsh light lose the sense of depth also. Plus the dark black of the background & bright green of the stems draw the eye from the main subject.

The composition of your shots from what I've seen are usually well thought out in general, you need to apply that to these kind of shots too.

I would have gone closer to the main subject, thus eliminating most distracting elements. Also, with a 100 mm lens I would go with a wider aperture, which would also eliminate some background distractions.