Yellow Gerbera

This was one of the many flowers Megan and Grace received in hospital.

For this shot, I put it in a small vase with a black jacket hanging behind it. A diffused light was coming from the window on the right, and I used a piece of white paper to bounce light up underneath the flower from the left. I used the camera's longest zoom and widest aperture to minimise depth of field, and focused on the petals at the front. I used Photoshop to adjust levels and contrast, clean up the background, and sharpen for printing.

Critiques

The version I entered in the KSCC club competition had more black space at the top, and the judge recommended I crop it a bit tighter. He still awarded it a credit, though.

The judge for the Kiama Show thought this photo might look more interesting rotated, either clockwise about 30° to make a square-shaped print or anticlockwise about 5-10° to make a long, narrow print. I tried both of these using Photoshop, but neither looked very good. I'd really have to reshoot the image to get the effects he was talking about.