I’m posting this last edit, in which I attempted to correct the stem problem. This image was a focus stack, and when I worked on it, I believe that I overlooked perfecting that stem! This is a stab at it. I can see that the stem over the leaf needs cleaning up.
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
My favorite water garden (Perry’s Water Gardens in Franklin, NC) reopened recently (after a long hiatus following the original owner’s passing), and getting down there (a 1.5-hour drive) to photograph these beautiful, graceful flowers was a delight! My previous work captured there was mostly in color — they were taken before I, a darkroom snob (!), was happy with Photoshop’s B&W conversion methods. I had a big show of them at a location in Asheville about the same time that the owner passed, so dedicated it to him. It was an honor!
At any rate, I love photographing the flowers at Perry’s in spite of the drive. And on the way home, can stop in Dillsboro to check out the Chocolate Factory’s latest offerings.
Specific Feedback
Have at it! I’m open and looking forward to your thoughts on this. Thanks!
PS I’ve been gone for over six months. My husband was very sick, which took my attention and energy. I’m happy to report that he’s much better now, and I have more time to participate in NPN, which is the best!
Technical Details
Camera: Canon 5DsR
Lens: EF 70-200mm
Setttings: ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/100 sec
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Hi Susan. Glad your husband is doing better. It’s good to see you posting again. I like this image a lot. The balance works very nicely for me and the lone bud on the right feels essential to the image. This is strictly a matter of taste, but when I open the largest version, the flowers look just a little “gritty” like there’s just a touch more detail than needed. If it were mine, I’d probably soften them just a touch. I’m posting a mark-up of your image because there are a couple of areas where there’s just a bit too much light along an edge for my taste and it tends to pull my eye-take that for what it’s worth.
Thanks so much, Dennis, for the feedback. I popped the image into Photoshop and worked on the flowers in ACR (doing a reverse clarity), then created a gentle dodge/burn layer to modify the dark areas of the petals. Please let me know if this works!
Hi Susanna! Great to see you here again and I am relieved for your husband’s positive condition.
Lotus Glow is a beautiful rendering. I really love the strong contrast of flowers to foliage and background. Great proportions of figure to ground as well.
The thing I notice that I wonder about is the stem of the taller flower. Where it approaches the flower the stem is in focus, but below that it is unfocused and I wonder why not have it in focus the entire length.
I’m so happy to see you back, Susanna – I have missed your wonderful images. And I’m so happy to hear your husband is better!
This is a gorgeous image, and a slightly different take on the usual lotus image. Well worth the drive. The composition is lovely, as are the whites. The areas pointed out by Dennis feel natural enough to me. My eye does go to the discontinuity on the taller stem – looks like a blur or glow effect ended a bit too abruptly. It’s a small point, but I do notice the dark area where the leaf stopped just short of the left edge. My taste would be to have a little more canvas on both sides, or else clone some leaf material into that dark area.
You can edit your OP (pencil icon at the bottom left) and add a new version above the OP, if you wish it to have priority, or underneath if you don’t feel it is better. That way people can easily toggle between the versions.
Hello Matt! I’m glad you’re still involved in NPN! Thanks for your feedback. I took a close look at the PSD file about the stem issue. It turns out that the stem above the leaf is also soft. I decided to darken the stem that is over the leaf to bring the whole stem into tonal alignment, at least as much as possible (I’m going to post that image). It’s not perfect, but it looks better. I may just reprocess the image to get the stem fixed.
Hello Diane! I’m happy to be back. Thanks so much for your comments and feedback. I worked on the stem in photoshop, but may just completely redo the image. I’m not 100% happy with that stem! I’ll look at adding some canvas to the sides. (I’m getting a message to reply to “several posts at once.” I’ll do that for the next one. And I’ll try to follow your suggestion for posting. Thanks!)
Being a stodgy old toot, rarely satisfied with what’s right in my face, the longer I looked at your post/repost, the more I couldn’t figure out what was nagging at me.
Knowing how badly the net treated blacks, I did the download into PS and made some interesting discoveries:
Looking at your posted images in real time, I couldn’t figure out why there was so much drop-off at the tips of the petals in the upper flower, but nearly so much in the lower flower - thus the inquiry via PS.
In PS, I isolated the BG (a bit crudely I might add) and then took a look via the Calculations drop down tool to see where you were at your last edit state, and this is what I found.
In seeing this (and we all do it), might I suggest isolating the BG, copying the selection, making a transparent layer to which you can paste, then feather the selection and then masking back to the foreground layer to reveal a better edge to the leaves and stems.
In my edit, I also wanted to see more of a defined fore leaf and a bit more light on the edges of the other leaves, muted, but visible.
My suggestions and edit in no way suggest you made a bad print, only that I saw a different ending.
@Chris_Calohan, as it turns out, it pays to have “stodgy old toots”! And, as it turns out, I reprocessed the image yesterday and did as you suggested with the background. “Great minds think alike,” I guess! I’ll be posting it today. Still a few little edits to make. Thanks so much!
Glad I helped without offending terribly. If you have the TK9 package, you can use the paint contrast tool to add some lightening to the edges. I think on the stems and small bud I was at 28% opacity and on the edges, I ranged from 23 down to 16% opacity. I felt that there was a need to push the big leaf more forward.
Susanna: I’m really late to this party but what spectacular flowers and equally spectacular capture and processing. None of our gardens that I frequent have lotus so this is a real treat. Great to have you back and very pleased that your husband is recovering. >=))>
@Bill_Fach, thanks so much for your feedback. And it’s nice to be back! I’ve realized, as I receive feedback and then revisit my images, that NPN is the very best venue for receiving feedback. I’ve been in critique groups for years, and they are wonderful, but we’re viewing images on large screens. It’s hard to see the details that can make such a big difference. Here, we can get “close up and personal” and provide in-depth feedback. Thanks so much to you, the other moderators, and David for providing this fantastic opportunity and source of continued learning.
