Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: jasonrandolph on August 07, 2009, 11:26:44 am

Title: Lily studies
Post by: jasonrandolph on August 07, 2009, 11:26:44 am

Whenever I buy flowers for my wife, it's almost inevitable that I'll photograph them in some way.  I made these last night.  I struggled with deciding whether or not to include the stems.  What do you all think?

Title: Lily studies
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on August 07, 2009, 11:31:43 am

They both work for me. The stems are nicely subdued, but present. If they were completely omitted, the blossoms might seem eerily disembodied. I would keep the stems.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: JeffKohn on August 07, 2009, 11:45:12 am

Really nice. I agree with Eric about the stems, although if you could have shifted the perspective just a hair in the first one to put some separation between the stem and the bottom petal I think it would have been better. I really like the lighting on these. The second shot is my favorite, I prefer its composition and it also seems you captured more detail/texture in the flower.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: Michael West on August 07, 2009, 11:46:15 am

Quote from: jasonrandolph

Whenever I buy flowers for my wife, it's almost inevitable that I'll photograph them in some way.  I made these last night.  I struggled with deciding whether or not to include the stems.  What do you all think?

Well seen and very well executed.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: usathyan on August 07, 2009, 12:01:21 pm

Quote from: jasonrandolph

Whenever I buy flowers for my wife, it's almost inevitable that I'll photograph them in some way.  I made these last night.  I struggled with deciding whether or not to include the stems.  What do you all think?

I like #2. In #1, the fallen petal is blur, and distracting - taking your attention away from the rest of the otherwise great image.
Just my 2c.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: wolfnowl on August 07, 2009, 12:02:55 pm

Quote from: usathyan

I like #2. In #1, the fallen petal is blurred, and distracting - taking your attention away from the rest of the otherwise great image.
Just my 2c.

My thought exactly.  And yes, keep the stem.

Mike.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: jasonrandolph on August 07, 2009, 05:27:36 pm

Thank you all.  I agree regarding the lower petal that is out of focus.  I didn't get a chance to reshoot, since the petal fell off. so I guess I'm stuck with it as-is.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: francois on August 08, 2009, 07:18:08 am

#2 is the best. The stem is to "straight"  and out of focus in #1 for me. I much prefer the very slightly curved stem in #2.

Title: Lily studies
Post by: byork on August 08, 2009, 07:27:04 am

Quote from: francois

#2 is the best. The stem is to "straight"  and out of focus in #1 for me. I much prefer the very slightly curved stem in #2.

Agreed...and the shape of the bottom petal is much better.

Cheers
Brian

Title: Lily studies
Post by: jasonrandolph on August 08, 2009, 01:52:16 pm

Thanks again for the comments.  I actually found another shot of the first flower that was shot at f/25.  I rotated it as much as I could to get the stem straighter, but it took out the leaf.  How does this one compare to the original?

Title: Lily studies
Post by: JeffKohn on August 08, 2009, 01:55:32 pm

I definitely like it better than the first one above, the extra DOF definitely helps. I still think Image #2 from the first post is the best composition though>

Title: Lily studies
Post by: popnfresh on August 10, 2009, 02:12:38 pm

I like them both very much. And the blurry petal in #1 doesn't bother me--neither do the stems. I think the DOF is fine as it is.