Grass - c&c please

[michaelwm]

Hi,
So I haven't been doing much photography for a while (too many other commitments), and now I fell that I'm struggling creatively to get back into it. This image has been haunting me for a few months now, I have it printed at home, and seem to swing between loving it and hating it. The funny thing is, I don't know why. Normally I know what I do/don't like about my own work, so it's a strange feeling.

So to the photo, its some grass and a few flowers, its windy, and the initial vision was to have sharp(ish) flowers in a see of blowing grass. Now I'm not sure if either;
a) The concept is not good
b) I didn't execute it very well
C) something else?

Please be honest and brutal (or not, but definitely honest).

Thanks for looking,
Michael

[degrub]

i would call it hidden treasures
yet
the orange flowers are not in focus or were moving so they don't give me something to zoom in on. That makes me want to move it more to the impressionist feeling by smearing the colors even more, losing the grass details.

just my reactions.

[luxborealis]

So to the photo, its some grass and a few flowers, its windy, and the initial vision was to have sharp(ish) flowers in a see of blowing grass. Now I'm not sure if either;
a) The concept is not good
b) I didn't execute it very well
C) something else?

A) The concept is a good one...
B) The difficulty is in pulling it off! That is, finding just the right shutter speed (and group of flowers) to keep the flowers sharp whilst allowing the grass around them to have enough motion to be blurred without looking like a mistake. Be sure to compose carefully to add movement (dynamic) to the photograph; e.g. with the flowers off-centre. Also consider that if you are going to have groups of flowers, an odd number works best. The two groups you have create a "tennis match" (back and forth) dynamic; 3 groups (or three flowers) creates a more circular motion.

[michaelwm]

Hi and thanks,

degrub. A good idea, and the difficulty I'm finding is the balance between an impressionist feeling of flowers and grass and a blurry mess of green with a spot or two of orange. I think this could be the main reason I feel so conflicted, its hard to find that perfect balance!

Terry, thanks for all the tips. While taking the shots (I have about 100) I tried several different shutter speeds, but I think the wind was too gusty, so I ended up with too many variables. I'll look through the others with your comments in mind to see if I can find any the try to tell the story that I think I wanted to tell. I have some other groups, and compositions too.

Cheers,
Michael

[luxborealis]

Of course, another approach would be to use two exposures - a sharp one and a well-blurred one - and blend the flowers from the sharp exposure with the grasses from the blurred exposure. Two layers in Photoshop (or OnOne Perfect Photos Suite) ought to do it.

[michaelwm]

Of course, another approach would be to use two exposures - a sharp one and a well-blurred one - and blend the flowers from the sharp exposure with the grasses from the blurred exposure. Two layers in Photoshop (or OnOne Perfect Photos Suite) ought to do it.

Hi Terry, yeah I think it would. I'll play some more in the coming week and get back with some more variants. I think I first have to decide what direction I want to take it in, but I'm getting there!

Cheers,
Michael

[michaelwm]

Hi everyone, thanks for commenting, I've uploaded the new version in this thread http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=70109.0 in user critiques, it's not really landscape anymore.

Cheers,
Michael