Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
I took this one in the backyard this morning so I don’t have much of a story to tell. The hardest part was arranging the tripod to shoot down! Any and all criticisms are welcome. I don’t have a thin skin.
This was shot at .8 second, f/16, ISO 400, 81 mm. It was processed lightly in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Welcome to NPN, Don. This is a lovely, moody shot of this beautiful plant. I love these big succulents and they’re so much fun to photograph. I think you did a great job with the composition. I like how the outside leaves are greenish and the center leaves have a bluish tint that have greenish areas that add contrast. The center has more light added to bring the eye right into that area. I don’t know how you feel about cleaning little things up in photos. Some photographers like to keep the natural look. There are a few black spots on the green leaves across the top of the photo that could be easily cleaned up. No big deal at all. Very nice image!
Donna, thanks for the thoughtful critique. I see what you mean about the black spots. I’m glad that the image generally works for you.
PS: I go through phases of wanting the natural look and phases of wanting to get rid of every error in processing. I thought going through phases was supposed to end when we were teenagers.
Hehee, I totally understand about the phases.
This is a beautiful and clean composition without any distractions! I love the colour palette as well.
Oooh, this is nice! Those blue tones are gorgeous. I’m with you on waffling about whether to “tidy up” things. In this case, I’d say go for it. This is all about the perfect shapes and colors, not so much a here’s-nature kind of thing. In addition to the dark spots at the top, I see some pine needles in the lower left quadrant. You could have picked those out before shooting (personally, I’m never above a little “gardening” in these situations).
Otherwise, I could see raising the lights on the center part to bring out those blue lights even more, and darkening around the edges to really highlight the center. I gave it a crack, just because this is so gorgeous and I couldn’t resist. Clones out the bits, too. This would make an outstanding print.
Love the image as is. The blend of soft green and blue here is outstanding to my eye. I also think the management of contrast here is really excellent. Thanks for sharing.
Oh this is so cool and subdued in its drama. I like that you didn’t go too far with the saturation, but kept it low key. The shapes and shadows are great and I like Bonnie’s edit very much. I think her added contrast and cloning got to the heart of your photo very effectively. Having these in your yard must be fun and give you a lot to work with. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks very much to all of you for the comments.
Just now stumbling on some I missed earlier, and glad I found this one – it is gorgeous!! All said above – I LOVE the bluish light on the center leaves and the softer, warmer light on the BG leaves. And the compostion is wonderful!
Great discussion, too. I think cleaning up is a good thing when you’re doing such a wonderful job with lighting as you’ve done here!
I love that you follow your camera around – a great methodology!! Phases are definitely part of the process. Aren’t we all still teenagers here, stumbling along on a great journey?
Don, I too just saw your stunning image! The blues, greens, and contrast are perfectly supported by the wonderful composition. I agree about getting dust and other spots out. They can distract from an otherwise beautiful image.
Susanna, thanks. I cleaned this one up and modified it as Bonnie suggested. All the advice has been very helpful.
Hi Don! 
This is very artistic, it has a strong “Art of Photography” feel to it. The composition was very well done and I think my favorite part is the patterns or impressions of other leaves or petals in the central bluish parts.
The lighting and exposure was wonderfully handled and I could easily imagine this printed and displayed on a wall somewhere.
I like the fine tuning tweaks that @Bonnie_Lampley made but I like your original as well.
The way I look at edits that include cloning out small distractions like the pine needles and spots is much the same way that an artist looks at it (an artist that uses canvas and paint). If I were an artist that uses canvas and paint, would I purposely paint in the spots and pine needles? Hmmm…in this case I doubt I would. So, having that outlook, I would remove those elements.
Although, I have seen canvas/paint artists paint in small elements like that to convey the realism of nature, it just depends on the artist’s vision at the time I suppose.
I can’t paint, I’ve tried a quite a few times but I just don’t have what it takes so, I use photography as my canvas and paint, then remove anything that I wouldn’t have painted in if I were a canvas/paint type of artist.
I hope that makes sense.
Either way, it’s a gorgeous image of nature and I fully appreciate the trouble you went through to capture it.
Merv, your comments make perfect sense and I appreciate them.
I wasn’t much of a painter either.
