Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Bird of Paradise flowers are one of my favorite subjects but the leaves can be pretty interesting too, especially when the light hits them in a particular way. All comments welcome. >=))>
Sony A7RIII
Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 GM II @ 200mm
ISO 400, 1/25 @ f13
I love the lower half of this image, Bill, but the relatively hard boundary from light to dark at the top doesn’t appeal to me as much. To my eye it would have more continuity if you cropped from the top to just below the horizontal portion of that boundary. The light and texture in the lower left corner is awesome.
Hi Bill, this is a lovely image! The flow of the colors, and the textures, are magical. I see @Dennis_Plank’s point about the almost abrupt transition at the top, but rather than crop it, you might try lightening it or working with a contrast layer in Photoshop to bring it up so the transition isn’t so abrupt. I think that the extra area is needed for the overall flow of the image, but not quite as dark. I hope this is helpful!
I love the flow and texture of this photo! I really love the little highlight on the left bottom corner! My only criticism (don’t know if this would be possible with the subject matter) is if it was possible to center the main vein of the Leaf. But apart from that I love the image.
Bill, this looks great, and nicely featherlike. I like the mix of light and dark, with the highlight on the left and a lesser highlight along the main vein. The extra colors that appear above the main vein are a nice bonus. I often set up a leaf like this with the main vein somewhat (or completely) diagonal, but I think having it horizontal works well here with the curved smaller veins leading in.
What a neat find and capture, Bill. I haven’t had the opportunity too many times to photograph a Bird of Paradise, but when I have that flower has had all of my attention and have never tried to photograph the leaf! Good eye to see this and the lighting on it. I love the wavy lines and the texture too.
Bill, fantastic image! The color combination of greens and blues are great. That spotlight is excellent. Love the linen like texture and subtle details. Your composition has potential. Below is a recommendation. I rotated and cropped to 4x5. In your original I noticed a prominent horizontal line near the vein of the leaf. This recommended crop version addresses that area and hopefully builds on the dynamic lines by making them more diagonal.
Different and interesting! The thumbnail was somewhat evocative of a landscape. I also felt the strong edge at the top could be softened, but @Alfredo_Mora has found the image within the image!
Thanks Alfredo. I often go back to these and extract parts of the image and your take is excellent. >=))>
Mark,
Very cool! I for one can say with certainty that I’ve never photograhed a bird of paradise - let alone the leaves of that plant. This is awesome! and kudos for seeing this.
As I’m not all that familiar with this flowering plant, but I don’t recall the leaves looking wet or glossy? Not that it matters because the resulting image here is wonderful!
I really like Alfredo’s simplified and rotated version. Your original is works beautifully as presented. I don’t have any additional nits or suggestions.
Lon
