Masha,
I absolutely love your photos, so I thought I'd chime in. I have gotten better over time taking pictures. But you really need to know what your camera does in certain situations, as I recently found out with a new camera. Not all are the same. I actually prefer to take photos in full sun, as I think the colors are prettier and more full of life. In my particular situation, pictures taken in the shade get a bluish tinge which I sometimes try to remove. Some whites reflect too much sun and really need to be captured in the shade, however. You find that out quick enough.
I have never used a tripod. I am too lazy. I try not to be out there in too much wind, though. I always use autofocus, also due to the laziness trait.
What is important, also, in getting good pictures is shooting the rose at the right stage. I like it when the bud had just recently opened or is in the process. I don't like fully opened raggedy rose photos. I have seen some rose books where all the blooms looked old and over the hill.
Also, cropping the photo is important. A huge field of green with a tiny rose in the center doesn't appeal to me.
Anyway, this is just my experience and my two cents. Hope you get alot more comments and tips.

Great pictures and great advice Masha. I never take photos in full sun because it washes the colors out. And I personally like to see the pictures with interesting backgrounds.. like other plants surrounding the rose, etc. I know some people love the perfect photos of the rose framed in all black. But I don't like those shots. They're ok for photo contests, or if you want a nice "portrait" of a rose. But I prefer the rose, or whatever plant, to be photographed in it's natural suroundings. Could have blurred mixed colors of foliage in the background, or have beautiful greenery or companion plants showing behind or around. Those kind of shots are the best ones in my opinion!

Thank you, Kathy and Beth, good points. I guess the disagreement on whether to take pictures in the sun just goes to show that you really need to know what your camera can do. In my case, as in Beth's, bright sun creates glare and washes out colors, which is very hard to counteract. I also found that whites and blushes can take quite a bit more sun than brightly colored ones. The glare in the Sunsprite picture was so bad I couldn't get rid of it with post-editing, and that particular shot went into the trash basket.

I thought I would not even start on aesthetic qualities such as background and angles as these are too subjective, and it is much easier to stick to technical aspects. I personally don't like extreme close-ups but lots of people do. I also don't like a bloom staring straight at you like an "in-your-face" salesman, but that's another personal preference. I think it is fun to see what other people consider beautiful even if I disagree.

Masha

Hey, if everybody liked the same thing, it would be a cold and boring world!! I just like to see anybody's pics of roses, or any other plants for that matter. It's nice to see them performing either differently or quite the same in different locations.

I guess I was slow to post my previous posting, and missed Kathy's. I agree with you Kathy on how a pic is cropped also. I want to see "some" background, but not a lot of it and a tiny rose in the center! But some people don't have cameras that take good macro shots. And I like to crop the pics sometimes a bit off-center too. Makes it more interesting.

I think it is hard to take good photos. My instamatic always has trouble with contrast. I'm getting better at framing shots, but reds and oranges are out of the question with my little camera- they fuzz.

I really love looking at the fabulous photography of others on these forums.

Masha- please, what is the last rose?
Renee

Beth, I always like looking at your pictures. You must have taken thousands of them by now. It is interesting to read your and Kathy's perspectives on what makes a good picture.

Renee, do your orange roses fuzz inside too?
The rose is Shailer's Provence, a centifolia I saw at the San Jose Heritage Garden. It is in commerce, but it is a once-bloomer.

Masha

Masha, this is very informative and useful info. It is kind of you to share your knowledge of photography. You are, as I have said before, a brilliant photographer.

Juliet

I agree with everybody! And all 4 of you take excellent shots. IMO

I still use my old 3 Mp Olympus. Do better with it than the 5 Mp Canon. But I truly am drooling over pics taken with digital SLRs. So I decided to try the Oly's TIFF setting. What a difference. Not as much detail as the SLR but a vast improvement over its highest resolution JPG.

The best way to test your cropping choice is to open it the following day for your initial reaction. I have learned my firt crop is not usually the best. I add a 1 or 2 or 3 etc. at the end of the filename.

I find using the screen is more effective than the viewfinder. Sometimes a 20 degree tilt makes the difference between washed out & saturated, lavender or blue, blow out or not. It's the angle that light rays hit the lens that determines color accuracy (as well as the camera). Sometimes the most flattering composition is lousy due to the light angle causing distortion of color.

Thank you, Juliet.

Thank you, iris_gal, nice tips. You must be doing lots of photography. I don't have a screen so I take lots of shots from different angles to look at later. I routinely reject from half to three quarters of my pictures as not being good enough. Very interesting about angles causing color distortion - I never noticed that.

Masha