Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: button on April 14, 2009, 12:40:38 am

Title: Spring
Post by: button on April 14, 2009, 12:40:38 am

Here's the first in a series.  C&C appreciated.

[attachment=13018:red_flower.jpg]

Title: Spring
Post by: jani on April 14, 2009, 01:25:36 pm

Quote from: button

Here's the first in a series.  C&C appreciated.

I love most of the colours, but the reds and oranges seem a bit over the top and artificial, particularly along the edges of the upper leafs.

I'd wish for a bit more air to the right of the leaves, and I'd consider cropping the bottom 10% off.

Apart from that, the blur works quite well, at least at the chosen display size.

Title: Spring
Post by: John R on April 14, 2009, 05:43:37 pm

I guess only you would know if the reds were really that red. I have seen extreme reds particularly when backlit or flora that turn colour prematurely. But my critique is that the background is not sufficiently OOF (out of focus) to be unobtrusive. If you look at the OOF branch extending from the upper left third area, it runs like a line leading the eye out of the main area and through the photo. The same holds for the bottom area where there are two dark areas that should perhaps be cropped. This is quite common in photos of this type. Hard to avoid. I don't find the red colours that extreme and I do like the main subject and premise of the image.
 
JMR

Title: Spring
Post by: button on April 14, 2009, 07:59:55 pm

An edited version:
[attachment=13032:red_flower2.jpg]

Title: Spring
Post by: button on April 14, 2009, 08:00:47 pm

The next in the series:
[attachment=13033:stick.jpg]

Title: Spring
Post by: John R on April 14, 2009, 09:17:17 pm

Quote from: button

An edited version:

I like the edited version of first image quite a bit.  It just comes to life and the luminesence helps to overwhelm the white areas.

Re the second image, it is quite nice. Sort of has an abstract quality with its colour combination and the unusual perspective.

JMR

Title: Spring
Post by: dalethorn on April 14, 2009, 10:23:28 pm

Quote from: John R

I like the edited version of first image quite a bit.  It just comes to life and the luminesence helps to overwhelm the white areas.
Re the second image, it is quite nice. Sort of has an abstract quality with its colour combination and the unusual perspective.
JMR

The edited version shows off the leaf better, but now the out of focus background just extends too far down from the leaf.  I'm guessing some of that area could be cropped out.

Title: Spring
Post by: jani on April 19, 2009, 11:47:53 am

Quote from: dalethorn

The edited version shows off the leaf better, but now the out of focus background just extends too far down from the leaf.  I'm guessing some of that area could be cropped out.

Uhm? It was already cropped out a bit, the OOF background is smaller in the second version.

To my eye, the balance works quite well, but I acknowledge that this is also a matter of taste.

Title: Spring
Post by: button on May 07, 2009, 11:49:07 pm

The next in the series:

[attachment=13549:gold_leaf.jpg]

Title: Spring
Post by: dalethorn on May 08, 2009, 08:10:42 pm

Quote from: button

The next in the series:
[attachment=13549:gold_leaf.jpg]

Very nice golden glow to that leaf, and the brown color it fades back to is an excellent complement.

Title: Spring
Post by: popnfresh on May 11, 2009, 07:13:24 pm

I like all of them. They're very striking. Good work.

Title: Spring
Post by: button on May 12, 2009, 12:45:05 pm

Quote from: popnfresh

I like all of them. They're very striking. Good work.

Thanks, man- you're a pretty tough critic, so I very much appreciate that!  More to come.

John

Title: Spring
Post by: button on May 12, 2009, 02:42:37 pm

The next one...
[attachment=13627:flower_and_bug.jpg]

Title: Spring
Post by: wolfnowl on May 12, 2009, 06:18:01 pm

I really like flowering dogwood.  The lighting here is great, but a little greater DOF would be nice.

Mike.

Title: Spring
Post by: dalethorn on May 12, 2009, 08:31:28 pm

The out of focus flower in the top half dominates the image. I would do something, crop it down a ways perhaps.

Title: Spring
Post by: RSL on May 13, 2009, 03:51:37 pm

I'd suggest a re-shoot.