It was early March and I was exploring an area where I had heard snow trillium bloomed. As it turned out, I was a couple weeks too early, but I did find these berries backlit by the quickly setting sun.
I haven’t been able to determine what type of berries they are, so please let me know if you do.
Specific Feedback Requested
Everything, but specifically I would like your feed back on the composition and BG.
I tried to offset the subject, (rule of thirds) but it didn’t look right to me.
I also decided to maintain the lighter mottled BG instead of darkening it or going completely black.
Technical Details
Canon 5D SR | EF100mm Macro | f5.6 | ISO 100
Processed using ACR and Photoshop
Lovely! No clue what they might be – the location and a picture of the leaves would help. A wild guess would be some sort of honeysuckle. I love the various colors and stages of decay and translucency. Is this the same plant that provided the amazing ice droplets on the tendrils?
I think the composition is just fine – with no significant BG detail to balance an off-center rule pf thirds composition, this subject, for me, begs to be centered. If the berries were visually heavier on one side of the stem than the other, that might justify moving the stem slightly off center – the rule of 7/16ths.
The rule of thirds works well with some subjects but certainly not always. Rules are basically for people who don’t know how to drive.
These remind me of bittersweet (a nasty invasive), but I’m not sure. There isn’t enough crispness throughout the pods for me to tell. The light is really nice here and you choice of background works perfectly - keeping it dark makes for less distractions in this case and we don’t need any sense of place here. Going totally black would lose the organic/natural quality of the seeds and render them more processed if you know what I mean. More artificial. You could up the highlights or whites a little here I think, especially on the lower seeds.
I think the Rule of Thirds came about because on the whole, perfectly centered compositions are mostly static, boring and a mark of the rank amateur because what could be easier than putting the subject where the focus aid and composition marks are? However, centering can have a soothing and calming effect on an image. It can be bold and chancy, but work depending on the subject and I think it does here since there isn’t anything else to see. It’s a photo more about shapes, light and color than setting a scene or showing an action.
