In RSE: lowered exposure compensation, desaturated a bit, increased fill light and shadow contrast some, lowered highlight contrast. In Photoshop: cropped, levels, curves, desat a bit more, USM, resize, USM, save for Web.
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Place: 148 out of 432 Avg (all users): 5.5110 Avg (commenters): 7.2857 Avg (participants): 5.4892 Avg (non-participants): 5.5338 Views since voting: 1002 Views during voting: 370 Votes: 272 Comments: 11 Favorites: 0
Thanks, Jason. I actually did desaturate (both in RawShooter and Photoshop) due to the red being too strong. The lawn doesn't show that it's blown out according to the histogram, but that doesn't mean it's not too bright for the shot's composition.
Really I think above 5.5 most shots show a basic grasp of all the techincals needed for a good picture. Then it becomes a matter of subject, "wow" and the small details that raise it above.
I have always found reds to be very hard to control on the Canon sensor. They saturate very very quickly and can look bad. I took a bunch of tulip shots in April and had the exact same problem. This shot may be suffering from that a bit. Try actually desaturating the reds a small amount and see if it looks better. (we rarely think of desaturating things unless we are going for selective desat or B&W).
The bokeh is mainly nice, but I think the lawn section is blown a bit which makes it less appealing. I also don't quite like the two horizontal highlights. Because it makes a pattern, our eyes are drawn to it and away from the subject. It doesn't add to the picture informationally, so it just winds up being a distraction.
Definitely meets the challenge and exhibits proper bokeh. The subject matter leaves me wanting (not because it's a flower - I have nothing against flowers - it just lacks a "wow" factor for me). Good luck!
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