Aging in Place

Image Critiques Flora Critiques
1

2025-05-11 10-06-10 (B,R11,S5)-Edit.jpg
2025-05-11 10-06-10 (B,R11,S5)-Edit.jpg1436×2048 703 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Moderators: If there’s too much bottle in this one, please feel free to move it to “Everything Else”.

This is the same two stems of common camas that I photographed and posted six days ago. The stems have both bloomed out and it actually looks like one or two of them managed to fertilize themselves inside. I really doubt that they can get enough energy to form seeds, but I might just give it a try.

Specific Feedback

I liked the way the petals thinned and curled with age, so I decided to photograph these again. I’m mainly interested in whether there’s anything appealing in this image for others.

Technical Details

Sony A7Rv, FE-70-200 f/4 macro at 72 mm, tripod, stack of 70 images at f/5, 1/30, iso 200. Helicon Focus for stacking, LR for adjusting luminosity and contrast, PS for straightening and adding border. Taken in my bathroom “studio” with indirect light from a skylight. Background is white foam core.

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
  • Emotional Impact and Mood:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Processing:
  • Technical:
1 Like
2

Really like the simplicity and the way you kept the bottle in the image. Don’t change that. You could clone the white spot in the bottle and maybe some contrast. It is the simplicity that drew me in.

3

Very cool! The high-key works perfectly here. Great colours.
I love the faint outline of the vase, but a bit more definition of the lower part might be good.
Sweet!

4

Dennis: Really interesting how this progressed and even in decline this makes for a fine image. A touch less bottle would suit me a bit better but this works great as is. Nicely done.>=))>

5

@Dennis_Plank, The flowers are indeed aging gracefully. Beautiful! The bottle is distracting, though. When I do high key flower work like this I use a large light pad. That way I can lay the flowers on the screen without vases or bottles. The opposite side of this thought though, since the bottle is there and it would be hard to delete, would be to pencil it in, give it more visual weight so it doesn’t feel like an afterthought.

6

It aged in a very interesting way! And amazing about the seed pods developing. This could be one to go in much closer on just one of the heads to show more detail. A great example of wabi-sabi.

7

Very cool image, Dennis. I love the high-key treatment.