A cleaned-up version:
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Another from Sonoma Botanical Garden – Farfugium japonicum.
All comments welcome!
A focus stack and then some low-opacity cloning the clean up the BG. Slight crop top and bottom.
Diane, this is such a delightful image! I love the juxtaposition of what I guess is a Leopard lotus leaf (?) above the more traditional leaves. You said that you did a bit of clean-up. I see that you left the rectangular tear in the leaf on the left. It is very distracting, for me at least. I’d suggest using the clone tool to remove it. I want my full attention to be on your very unusual Leopard leaf!
Otherwise, your colors look great, the DOF works. I like that the leaves to the right of the Leopard leaf don’t clash with it.
Thanks, @Susanna_Euston! This is a sprouting leaf. I debated about the insect damage. Very easy to remove, but I thought the garden staff would love the touch of reality. I’m interested in what others here think. My preference is always for cleanup. It’s easy to have two versions.
Yes, @Diane_Miller (I’m learning to use the @…! slowly but surely), I agree about the two versions. I’ll have to look up that variety of plant. Does the fully developed leaf look like the others??
Hi Diane. I love the repeating pattern of the veins in the leaves. The first thing that struck me in this image is that there’s no real sense of scale. To me,these could be anything in size form a giant water lily to a geranium. The insect damage doesn’t bother me, though I often tend to do a lot of cleanup as well. It depends on the end use of the image to me.
Thanks @Dennis_Plank! @Susanna_Euston, the developing leaf will soon look like the one on the left. It is about 6" across, and the mature one beneath it is maybe a foot across.
That’s a cool plant. I don’t mind the insect damage in the left leaf - it’s the wabi-sabi for this scene. I feel like there should be less room on the right, though. If you cropped some off the right, it would accentuate the effect of the two leaves conversing with each other.
Thanks, @Bonnie_Lampley! I didn’t want to take more off the right because I didn’t want to crowd the small feature I like where the bottom leaf ends on the right. It’s not a big thing but it makes the lower leaves look less aanipulated. (They aren’t here – it’s the top that got cleaned up.) For @Dennis_Plank and @Susanna_Euston, above is a beautified version.
