The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
At the Tucson Botanical Gardens I found a number of bumblebees and found this one at the flower.
Specific Feedback
I was wondering if the white in the background is a distraction. I can remove it in Photoshop but the effects are worse Any suggestions welcome. I like the photo overall.
Dean, It would have been great had the white area not been there, but I don’t find it to be a deal breaker. I’m guessing you have toned it down already as much as would look natural. I guess this was natural light? A flash would possibly darkened the BG which would have eliminated the white from trying to draw attention. Not sure you were setup for that though. There is a black spot on the pretty flower the bumblebee is visiting that you might want to clone out. I’m so glad that you can get out to the botanical gardens to photograph these guys. I love the color of those flowers.
The white doesn’t bother me much, Dean. One thing I’ve used that works on whites that are annoying is to use the local adjustment brush in LR and just bring down highlights. It rarely affects anything adjacent very much if you’re half way careful. Gr eat focus on the bee.
Thanks @Dennis_Plank and @Shirley_Freeman . I updated the image and think I took out the back spot that was referred to. I did something I am not a big fan of, but it did help, I think. I used PS select and mask to select the made subject and the flower as well. Then inverted the selected and refined it more to mainly select the white part in the left lower corner. This used Generative Fill in PS with the word background. I then needed to use the layer before that happened for some cleanup on the edges of the subject.
Dean, you improved it for sure. I would have never thought of going at it that way. Probably would have used @Dennis_Plank suggestion. I need to get more proficient in PS. I use LR mainly.
Oooh I like it. And yeah, Gen Fill has become useful for just this kind of thing. I don’t count it as cheating, just perfecting. I love the tongue going into the flower and the position of all those legs. Check out that ragged wing. These girls just keep on flying. I think it is over-saturated though. From my many years observing bumblebees, few are quite so yellow and the blue/purple is off the charts on my MacBook screen. Easily overcome though and what a fabulous catch. Terrific detail and positioning with the flowers. I miss my girls.
