The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Living near the El Dorado Forest we have deer around that eat everything. I couldn’t believe it when this dahlia finally bloomed last year. I figured I only had a couple of days to shoot it while it was perfect. That was correct. 1.5 days. Finally sat down and did some edits today.
Specific Feedback
I blurred the background some. Not sure about adding more.
Also, maybe a square crop???
I did some PS color grading and pulled up the vibrance some. I feel that worked well. Then took out some of the noise with Topaz.
All feedback appreciated Thx
Technical Details
Fuji X-T4
Tamron 18-300mm lens *Probably set around 20-30mm f4 or 5.6 * 1/30 (no PS data)
Processing: Lightroom Classic >>Photoshop w TK9>>Topaz Denoise
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
I hear you about the deer. They eat everything! Glad you got the time to view and photograph this one flower. The color is intense. The bg looks sufficiently blurry to me, but seems to have a magenta cast. Placing the flower dead center feels too static to me and the face on angle more like a snapshot, especially with the flat lighting. Dahlias are so deep and rich in detail that I’d rather see more of that than this kind of presentation. If you have a look through the Flora section for dahlia images, I’m sure you’ll see what I mean. Some folks are true wizards with these flowers - me, not so much despite having them in flower pots from time to time. The center of the flower looks nice and crisp, but I wonder if a stack could have brought the lower petals into sharpness along with everything else. Food for thought if it ever survives the deer onslaught again!
Gorgeous color in the Dahlia, James, and I think the background blur worked well. While focus stacking is a great tool and I use it regularly, it doesn’t bother me to see a floral image without it. I could see the square crop you mentioned-it might give this image more punch. Another way to create more interest in post processing that I like is using either the radial filter or the local adjustment brush in LR centered on the flower and with a nice broad feather area and just play with some of the settings to see what the effect is.
James, this is a beautiful flower and nicely captured. I just love the color. I agree that a square crop may improve this shot even more. Certainly worth trying.
That’s a beauty; glad you grabbed it before the deer!
I think the blur looks good James, and for me either crop works well; I’d probably just choose depending on whatever space I wanted the photo to fit in.
It’s always hard to judge since I didn’t see the actual flower, but the color seems just a bit to saturated to me. Maybe just a little less vibrance?
I love the color in this one James. The flower is beautiful, the blurred BG works nicely too. I think I would just crop a small amount off of the right side to off center the flower and accentuate the direction it is facing a bit.
Thanks Kristen. All good observations. My flora photography is definitely a work in progress. I am finding that photographing flowers outdoors can turn you into something of a contortionist, even with a tripod. I feel that this shot was a good one for learning.
A nice looking flower and glad that you photographed it before it became a snack for your resident deer. Moving the flower off center by providing more room on the left and upper portion of the photo is worth a try too. A square comp is useful when the flower is photographed straight down and the center of the flower sits at the center of the square. I like the color of the repost and BG blur looks good. Well done…Jim
I like the composition and most of the looks on the repost, James. My personal taste would call for the center to be just a bit lighter, but that’s pretty arbitrary.
Thx