Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Tough winter survival for this little cactus. April is way too early for the flowers.
Let me know your opinion of the cropping.
Nikon D850 F9 1/100 sec ISO 64
Nice subject and detail — the textures and colour in the cactus come through well, and the light gives it a good sense of form.
On the crop, it does feel a bit tight, particularly with the cactus in the top right being cut off. A slightly wider frame would help it feel more complete. There’s also a sense that the angles are a bit mixed — adjusting position so the pads sit more on the same plane, or simplifying the arrangement, could make it feel more cohesive.
Overall, a solid image, just needs a bit more space and consideration in the framing.
Thanks for the feedback. The background would have been even more unattractive if I allowed any more of it to be shown. Thank you!
Alan, the cacti stands out well with it’s bright yellow/greens. You’ve separated it nicely from it’s surroundings, which is a challenge with something that grows this low.
Alan: I love prickly pears but they can be tough to compose. The OOF pad exiting the frame is a major 
for me but the capture of the main trio is really nice. Some fancy processing could do some nice stuff with your basic ingredients. I just used the remove tool in PS to make the OOF pad go away, selected and masked the BG to decrease the light and detail in it, cropped a bit tighter and finally added a vignette to isolate the nice vibrant light on the pads. >=))>
PS: Site guidelines recommend sizing your images to about 2000 pixels on the long side. This is about half that. Larger images make assessing the merits, especially of the small details, a lot easier..
