I love the winter for giving us these red berries. I look back at what I did last year with these shots and realise that I've come quite some way with processing, with creating the sorts of images I'm seeking.

Is this from last year? Colorful berries indeed but nothing's in sharp focus and the blown out background is troubling.
I'm only on my 2nd cup so maybe I'm missing something.

I wasn't going for sharpness or realism. Think of it as impressionism, perhaps.

Ahhh...ya got me there! Paper thin DOF at f1.4 and shooting with 2pm's brutal backlight had me wondering.

Hmmmm, I want to like it but am not feeling this one. I like an impressionalistic shot but I think this has some room for more dynamics. Maybe it is the heavy yellow cast that is hurting it as well as the bleached BG areas.
I see it with a richer green and a very definitive 'red' of the accenting berries You can 'play' that DOF more if you brought forward one cluster of berries and worked them more into the frame, lots of blank space on this one and a bit harsh on the light IMO

Karl

I like what you are trying to achieve here with the softness and background, it's a good start. You might want to work on the composition by dropping the upper left berries down a bit, so as not to create a deep gapped bottom space. This can be difficult to do, but composition plays a huge roll when trying to do this without on purpose sharpness. Although when you nail it, it can look so beautiful.

What lens are you using? using extension tubes? aperture? 2.8? 2.0?

see some of my samples below that were taken in the morning:

and check this website out:

http://macroartinnature.wordpress.com/

Above are three fine examples of impressional type of work, pleasing light levels, a point of interest or defined subject and nice hues of color.

Karl

caractacus,

A few more samples for you to study. Processing is very critical when doing this kind of work, use accentuated colors and composition technique to take the place for the blurred on purpose subject.

I hope this helps you. Show us more examples of your work . I love this kind of stuff

REMEMBER COMPOSITION IS THE KEY HERE

Phil

See more of my samples:

http://philteves.smugmug.com/Nature/UCR-Botanic-Gardens/9766045_5GnnH#661841796_D4fe5