Colourful Flowers

The bokeh here is as much a star of the show as the flower! It’s a lovely shot with plenty of atmosphere and energy. My main issue is with the composition, my eye travels up the first stem, which leads to the left, leading me out of the picture. Then it travels up the second stem to an empty space. A slight change in position might have helped the bloom to take centre stage. It’s almost there!

There’s a lot going right here: nice blemish free flower, no distractions in the background, complementary colours, plenty of negative space. But the one thing that’s hard to forgive in a close-up picture is a lack of focus. The aperture and shutter speed selected here should have been enough to give the photographer the sharpness he/she needed in the stamens, which suggests either the plant or the camera moved during the exposure. To solve the first problem, wait for the wind to die down, shield the plant or use floristry wire or a garden cane to keep it steady. To solve the second problem, use a tripod. Next time it’ll be great!

It's all about the beautiful light here – warm and low, it highlights every hair on the bloom and stem. The plant is beautifully isolated, thanks to the use of a telephoto zoom lens and an aperture of f/8. The flower has plenty of room to ‘grow’ into at the top, which often gets forgotten, and the slight diagonal adds a nice dynamism. It’s a beautiful image.