Very pretty, GrammaChar! I am just an amateur, but I like the second picture as is.

I would have cropped the out of focus blooms.

Charlotte, my preference would also have been to crop the OOF flowers on the right. It would be less distracting and make for a more pleasing off-center composition. In this kind of situation it is also well worth to try a tighter vertical composition (butterfly + the flower and a good portion of the stem).

I appreciate the comments and advice.

Thank you, William. I hadn't even thought about making it a vertical shot, but it works!

Still waiting to see more background photos.....

I found another one.

GrammaChar said:I appreciate the comments and advice.

Thank you, William. I hadn't even thought about making it a vertical shot, but it works!

I didn't think about doing it vertical either, but was thinking only that cropping the OOF blooms would make it off center. I like the crop!

I take a lot of pictures. I've got more than a few cameras with 100K+ clicks on them. And as I look through the pictures that I take, I find that often the background is rather "none of my business". That's a terrible thing to say. Maybe if I thought more and planned more and clicked less, I wouldn't make that observation.

But yesterday, I was concentrating on taking pics of our pup. And he was doing what he does in the water. And the background was just that. Not even really an afterthought. But an artifact of his dog-ness:



I think it worked out well for the purpose of the picture. But it's a byproduct of the subject doing what the subject does.

@evermorelawnless

I sort of agree with your "backgrounds are none of my business" ...after-all, the background, whatever that is, is not the subject of the photograph ....

with that said ... we would not want our subject, appearing to have a tree growing out of its head ...or a shrub making someones behind look ridiculously huge ....

I think photographers, even with some experience, instinctively frame shots so that (background mishaps) doesn't happen

We do. And I shot more than a hundred pics of that dog yesterday. And I didn't select any to share that had a bad background.

So the spray and pray and let the chips fall is kind of disingenuous in that even though background didn't seem important while I was shooting, it clearly is in my process of selecting what to share.

I remember sitting in a "Physics of Photography" class at NAU ....while some of the physics material was flying over my head at warp speed ... the one thing that I retained over all these years, was a comment that the instructor made:

"there are only 2 types of pictures, the first is a snapshot - the second is a photograph"

Of the tens of thousands of pictures I have taken since then ....about 50 are worthy of being a photograph

I kinda like this pic of the cat in the iris-hat


The dark steer in the background of this 'bird on the implements' shot is key to the appreciation of all the bugs in the air that the bird is dining on


And here is one where the background is quite possibly more interesting than the back-lit, back-view of the flower here...I was going for the pretty colors together...got that, but the focus being on only two petals toward the front of the flower misses the mark



Anyway, I'm tired of trying to decide what my third entry will be, so I picked this one

Dirt, although pets are a no go for this competition the cat with the iris-hat is very sweet.
The backlit flower has excellent light and pleasing composition.

I will note the iris pic as your final entry. I know it is hard to select pictures, to my mind it is a sort of self critique, so I think that selecting pics will help every photographer become more aware of what they like in their own pics and what they need to work more with.

Ladybug larva in action

Garden helper

Just love the color of this hibiscus, so many shades of pink and beautiful textures.

I found the "watercolor" quality of this background rather pleasing.

Here's a full-frame shot of "nature providing the background" that I quite liked. Not a contest entry (would prefer to withdraw my previous entry and just observe). But I really like the conversation re backgrounds here. It's verymuch made me more aware as I shoot.

As Asa just sent me 50 acorns to match the initial acorn prizes, I'm happy to announce that the the new updated prices for the contest is, thanks to Asa's, Charlotte's and Dirt's most generous donations:

85 acorns for the winner
55 for second place
36 for third place

Asa, I see no reason for you to withdraw. Your pictures are very nice!

blue23rose said:Asa, I see no reason for you to withdraw. Your pictures are very nice!

Not a question of whether what I do is good - but more at "art as competition" isn't for me anymore. Not sure I have the words to explain it - and it's been something I've been thinking about for a long time.

I create to interpret and elevate - myself and hopefully others. Not to compete. That's not to say that I don't like and appreciate critique.

Not going to be able to explain it well. And I sure don't expect others to follow suit - or even to understand - it's still a little tricky in my own head. Just a thing for me after lots of consideration. Personal, I guess.

I feel the same as Asa. I was happy to donate acorns to the pot, but have never been interested in entering contests. Was hoping that the competition would inspire others to consider backgrounds more when composing a photo - it's has certainly made me more aware of "what's behind the subject".

I believe we all want good photos of our gardens - or visitors like Asa has his bees and I have my butterflies - and many on this site take amazing flower photos. Hopefully participation will pick up now that it's almost the month of May and the deadline is closer.

Post more photos!!!!! Please!!!!

here's one

I had to get in an awkward spot to get the little iris with fore and background catmint; I think it goes well with the beard.