I wanted to put emphasis on the vivid white  color and perfect geometry of the flower heads by using a bright yellow background. I chose yellow  as opposed to a black background to bring to mind a bright sunny day.  I removed the leaves from the flower stems to enhance the simplicity of the image.

I used a  more narrow aperture to keep more of the green flower centers in focus while allowing  for as much light as possible. I likewise used  a lower shutter speed but without having to use a tripod

Canon 5DS R

Lensbaby Velvet 85

aperture 8.0

shutter speed 1/125

iso 400

Lightroom Classic

I would like to know what you think of my choice  of background

would you have use different camera settings?

Please comment on technical flaws

How could I make the image more interesting?

Thank you

Hello jlloyd

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing your photo of Shasta daisies here.  It's a beautiful capture of the flowers, but I don't feel yellow is the best choice of colour for the background to white flowers. I wouldn't suggest black, but I think a deeper colour that gives more contrast would enhance your photo. Perhaps it might also be an idea to crop the top and lower frame to create a square format with the daisies almost filling the frame. I think it's worth experimenting with both colour and crop to see how you can add originality and visual appeal. I see from your gallery that you have strong floral images published with excellent colour contrasts, so I am sure you can create a stronger image with this particular shot.

Good light, Elizabeth

Dear James,

I have three ideas you can consider replicating. One is leveling the light on the three flowers by a simple gradient in Adobe RAW, pulling up the "lights" for the right two blossoms. Next is the composition. It feels tight on the sides and too much space on the top. One easy way to do this is to crop with "content aware" enabled. simply pull from above and open beyond borders left and right, Photoshop will fillthe blank spaces on the side.

Last is quite special, for sure a matter of taste. I added a texture as smart layer. This one:

I reduced the opacity and applied a mask selected by the color yellow in your shot - to keep the flowers green. I blurred it about 4 pixels with a gaussian blur to not distract and simulate a bokeh. Then I picked up a darker green from your photo and with a huge, soft round brush I painted a bit of a vignette on a new layer, applying the same mask so it does not spill on the flower. If you press "Alt" and pull a mask to a new layer, it gets coopied and applied.

The result looks more balanced in my opinion, and the texture is less boring than a plain colour as background. 

Just a suggestion according to my preferences.

Best regards,

Mike

Hello,

Welcome to our forum. Thank you for uploading your image. You have already received valuable feedback. I do want to add a few points that are closely related to the comments above. I agree that there is a tight crop- I think using the content aware crop is a good idea. My more urgent comment is about the background color. The color is too bright. I think it also does not look so good. I advise you to change the image to a black and white image with a blue tint. I used a filler on my iPad to demonstrate what it would look like. I think that way the image looks better. However the image does not load up. I will try to upload it tomorrow once more.

I wish you good light. Cicek kinal...

I am so sorry for the late reply, somehow I did not see your critique. I really appreciate your suggestions and will keep them in mind as I move foward.

Thank you so much

Mike Kreiten CREW 

Dear James,

 

I have three ideas you can consider replicating. One is leveling the light on the three flowers by a simple gradient in Adobe RAW, pulling up the "lights" for the right two blossoms. Next is the composition. It feels tight on the sides and too much space on the top. One easy way to do this is to crop with "content aware" enabled. simply pull from above and open beyond borders left and right, Photoshop will fillthe blank spaces on the side.

Last is quite special, for sure a matter of taste. I added a texture as smart layer. This one:

 

 

I reduced the opacity and applied a mask selected by the color yellow in your shot - to keep the flowers green. I blurred it about 4 pixels with a gaussian blur to not distract and simulate a bokeh. Then I picked up a darker green from your photo and with a huge, soft round brush I painted a bit of a vignette on a new layer, applying the same mask so it does not spill on the flower. If you press "Alt" and pull a mask to a new layer, it gets coopied and applied.

 

The result looks more balanced in my opinion, and the texture is less boring than a plain colour as background. 

 

 

Just a suggestion according to my preferences.

Best regards,

Mike

Please forgive the very late response. Somehow I did not see your critique. It contains a wealth of helpful insights that I will certainly employ in the future. This is just what I am looking for.

Thank you so much

Please forgive the late response. I somehow did not see you critique until now, it is very helpful. I had not thought of black and white and have very little experience with it , but your suggestions have inspired me to begin to explore the art.

Thank you so very much