3 Bells

[byork]

Comments appreciated, thanks.

Brian

[JeffKohn]

It's a nice shot. I like the directional light, the arrangement of the  flowers, and the diagonal lines in the image. I just wish that fourth flower wasn't visible in the background to compete (tonally) for attention with your subjects.

[Jeremy Roussak]

It's a nice shot. I like the directional light, the arrangement of the  flowers, and the diagonal lines in the image. I just wish that fourth flower wasn't visible in the background to compete (tonally) for attention with your subjects.

My thoughts exactly. It's blurred (which doesn't matter) and distracting (which does). At the risk of incurring Russ's wrath, could you perhaps clone it out? Or at least darken it a bit?

Jeremy

[wolfnowl]

These are called Summer Snowflakes.  I also like the image, but like Jeff I'd be tempted to darken out the fourth, OOF flower as it distracts from the nice arrangement of the other three.

Mike.

[walter.sk]

Comments appreciated, thanks.

Brian

I agree with the others, that the composition and lighting are very strong, and, to some degree, I think that the 4th flower is somewhat distracting.  Howeever, without it in the picture (if darkened out or cloned out, for example,) the bottom right quadrant of the picture would seem to me to be lacking and therefore assume  too much weight in the image.

Since the 4th flower is already blurred, which is fine,  you might consider a bit of dodging and burning.  Namely, to very subtly and gradually increase the brightness leading to and including the 3 flowers, and slightly and gradually darken to the corners of the image, as in a *mild* vignette.  Then, the 4th flower could be carefully darkened just to the point where its tonality "matches the blur" in weight.  That way, the eye would be more strongly drawn to the 4 flowers, and the 4th would not distract, but would still  make the lower right quadrant a contributing part of the composition.

The curve of the dark leaves sets the main focus on the 3 flowers in an elegant fashion.

I don't know if this helps or not.  It's a quick attempt at what I described:
[attachment=15692:3flowersMyFix_6969.jpg]

[byork]

Thanks guys, I'll do a bit of burning....that way Russ won't get upset at me for cloning, but more importantly, I'll keep sweet with the wife by not pulling flowers of the plants for a re-shoot.  

Cheers
Brian

[walter.sk]

Thanks guys, I'll do a bit of burning....that way Russ won't get upset at me for cloning, but more importantly, I'll keep sweet with the wife by not pulling flowers of the plants for a re-shoot.  

Cheers
Brian

Two issues:

My quickly done example lost one of the nice features of your picture, in that the whiter whites of the 3 flowers was lost somehow, becoming more saturated in my example. Be careful not to lose the original white balance.

Second:  To satisfy Russ (avoidingcloning) as well as your wife (not clipping the flower off the plant) there is a flexible tool called a "Plamp" (I don't remember the manufacturer).  One end clips onto your tripod or other convenient place and the other end saafely clamps onto the flower stem so that you can gently and temporarily move it out of the way.  It also does wonders when the breeze is a bit too high for flower shooting.

[RSL]

Thanks guys, I'll do a bit of burning....that way Russ won't get upset at me for cloning, but more importantly, I'll keep sweet with the wife by not pulling flowers of the plants for a re-shoot.  

Cheers
Brian

That's the spirit! B&H must finally have consciences in stock.