What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Are the deep shadows too much? I did this intentionally to really kill any detail in the shadows, but curious to see what others think.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
25mm, 1/4s, ISO 160, f/11. I used the focus stacking bracketing on the Fujifilm X-T3 and used Helicon Focus to stack the images. Converted to B&W in Lightroom. I did composite in a better looking flower in the center, the stem you see is from the actual flower, but it was a little past peak. So I took another image of the same species of flower to make it more appealing.
Rework:
Rework 2:
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
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Thatâs pretty neat, David. And judging from your description, itâs curious for me to think that these tiny blooms were able to thrive among all those giants, albeit briefly. As to processing, the high contrast works quite well for me. Seems the surroundongs are rendered to be glowing. Not knowing your actual lighting, I think the dramatic blacks for your intended end result are very effective.
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David,
Fabulous find - and an even better rendering. I think the dark middle is very effective - gives me the sense of a bottomless pit, the abyss⌠something of mystery. The spacing along with the darkness surrounded by the beautiful plants (Call them Corn lilies out here, but youâve got the proper name.)
The light on the leaves is beautiful. My only comment/suggestion has to do with the brightness of the flower itself. No issue in composing a prime flower, but in my mind, the luminosity is just a bit brighter than even the highlighted leaves. Also, canât tell from here, but if the height of the flower is lower than the surrounding corn lillies, then I think that would naturally have the flower a little less bright. Even the top flower is a bit brighter than the two smaller ones. Not sure if that makes sense. BTW, weâre talking a minor amount.
Excellent work and image!
Lon
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The handling of the leaves is exceptional, David, and I like the brightness of the flower - the high contrast effect working really well for me. I do find just too much dark in the centre; while you clearly want to emphasize the flower I donât think a little more detail there would detract. A very fine image whatever.
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Your b&w conversion and choice of darkness makes for a very dramatic image where the center flower stands out beautifully along with the textures in the leaves. Exceptional find handled masterfully. Love it.
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David, a truly stunning image. To answer your question, the deep shadows work just fine for my taste on this image.
As mentioned the brightness of the small center flower is slightly more then one would think if it is below the top line of sight with the lighting. However, I personally like it as it is posted here. To me it is truly the center of attraction overallâŚ
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David, this is really a wonderful creation on your part. I like the deep shadows and find the B&W balance of the flower and shadows as presented to be just right. The flower is the visual star and in this instance I think the brightness of it is appropriate for my taste.
Itâs nice to see your work here!
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This is simply gorgeous David, what a find (and no I donât mind that you used another flower). Just to get a patch of hellebore with a center area like this is great, and that there was a flower in there, is amazing. I think the deep blacks in the center is the best way to make the flower pop, any more shadow detail risks competing with the flower. As presented, this image makes a very powerful statement.
On a secondary level, I love your processing of the hellebore leaves themselves, it is just so rich looking. The center flower makes your image special, but these hellebore leaves deserve some attention tooâŚ
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Beautiful, David. I find the center shadows a bit too dark or rather too much of really dark area rather being really dark. But not an image killer for me at all. The brightness of the flower works for me nicely. A most enjoyable image.
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Thank you everyone, great feedback! I posted a rework in the original post, I toned down the flower just a tiny amount but Iâm unsure if I like it that way since it really is the crown jewel in the radiating corn lilies. I also noticed the leaves on the right were a little darker than on the left so I dodged them a bit to balance out the âringâ of leaves.
I think the dark shadows work very well to emphasize the framing of the flower in the center. Having more shadow detail in this situation would distract from the subject in the center. Itâs also interesting that the flowers in the center of the frame are very small relative to the false hellebore. Your processing also works well here to bring out the lines and texture of the leaves of the false hellebore.
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The reworked image is excellent. The center flower works just fine on both images for me.
I did not notice the right leaves on the corn lilies being too dark compared to the left. But your reworked image is much nicer with the âringâ as you call it made for a really nice change thereâŚ
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Love both versions but the second one does balance things out nicely with the dodging on the right. I think the dark center is what makes this image, and wouldnât change a thing about it. This would look amazing on someoneâs wall!
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It is remarkable how a small change can make such a huge improvement. Balancing the left and right side exposure really completes the âringâ!
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I absolutely love this image. The rework did a LOT to balance it out, great call there. I still have one small suggestion - the upper-left corner has some fairly bright plants that break up the ring shape of the main plants, and the lower-right is very dark in comparison, so it doesnât feel like thereâs a counterpoint to the UL brightness. I tried darkening the UL and a couple other small bright spots along the edges, and brightened the lower right a little. It feels more symmetrical to me this way with the ring shape standing out properly, and my eye no longer gets pulled up to the UL corner.
Thanks Alex, youâre right on! I noticed that too after I posted the last one, I posted another rework and I think itâs a winner now. Thanks buddy!
Number 2 works best for me. I feel that the circle around the flower should be emphasized to a degree but enough information be provided outside the circle that the viewer would want to venture out and explore. Number 3 goes too far in darkening the outside leaves. I would also drop the really high highlights outside of the circle.
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