The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is a just-opened Lilium leichtlinii var maximowiczii at the Sonoma Botanical Garden, which is a repository of many Asian native plants. Some lovely lilies will be opening in the next few weeks.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome!
Technical Details
The light was harsh but I was astonished at how much detail the Highlights slider pulled out on the petals. A lot of BG simplification done with low-opacity cloning.
I really like how you got a great angle here to show all the parts of the flower to the best, even a bud at the back. The dark green BG is a perfect foil for the flower; I can’t find anything I don’t like about this shot. I’m curious if you saw any butterflies feeding on this, or others.
I’ll say it’s lily season. Wow, another beauty. So similar to the ones Mike & I put up, but different, too. Seems there are more spots and the flower curls less than the others. I like the inclusion of the bud behind and the density of the vegetation behind. Could you have included all of the long leaf? Sometimes it’s not possible. The light brings up such nice detail and modeling and where you placed the focus works quite well.
Thanks, @Mike_Friel and @Kris_Smith – I don’t remember seeing any butterflies at all. I suspect the petals curl back after the bloom is out bit – later the same day or the next?? Going back Wednesday with a new friend, hoping to photograph the henryii, which weren’t quite out yet. She came up behind me on a trail and commented on my lens. Turns out she has the DSLR version of my rig and we have the same tastes in photography. And she is on a first-name basis with every plant there. I’ve talked her into joining here!
Kris, there was a mess of a bush or something on the right that I had to exclude. Will see if I can frame things better next time.
This is really great - I know that lilies can be quite tall but I still love the low perspective and that we get to look up at the flower which is not that common of a view for flower photography. Nicely done!
