The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Nights are getting cooler and Fall is slowly becoming evident. The dahlia garden is still producing quality blooms, but it takes some effort to find an excellent flower. Bees tear up the petals when searching for nectar and pollen. I had to do some repair work on a couple of the petals. I photographed this flower in the studio with natural light. The flower is resting on a mirror and the BG is black velvet. There was some double images produced in the reflection due to the incident light coming in at an angle greater than 45 degrees. Those were cleaned up in Photoshop.
Specific Feedback
What do you think about the lighting? Does it provide enough impact for the comp?
Technical Details
Z9 105mm f2.8 Micro (1/125 sec at f9, ISO 400; 50 image stack, Levels, Topaz DeNoise AI, cleaned up BG and munched on petals with rubber stamp and bandaid tools, Crop for comp…Jim
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Quite striking and dramatic. The lighting is directional, but balanced so that it isn’t creating terribly harsh shadows - just enough to bring up all that texture and form in the petals, which is, I assume, what you wanted. The color gradation from lemon to rust is excellent as well, with the rusty parts being centered relatively along the main subject and the reflection. And that lets us see more of the blossom as a whole and being so deep and tall, it gives a perspective we never get without using a studio set up and mirror. A portrait to be proud of.
What a gorgeous flower and a unique and wonderful way to photograph it! I love the detail and colors! Absolutely no nits, but I wonder about darkening the reflection just a bit, the way we are used to seeing reflections in water a little darker. But I don’t know which would be better (if either) – having a little separation of the reflection or having it so unified with the flower.
The colors are drop dead gorgeous Jim. Great technique to get this. The Black BG and mirrored flower are excellent. I can see just a touch darker reflection as suggested working really well too. I saw this posted on Instagram while I was out in Tennessee earlier this week.
Thank you @Kris_Smith , @Diane_Miller , @Dennis_Plank , @James_Bartek , @John_Williams , @Ed_Williams for your critiques. One valuable lesson I learned from this photo is that natural light brings out the best colors in these flowers. So far, we have not had a hard freeze in Southern Michigan so I’m hoping to get one more photo before the season ends…Jim
