Another Sugar Hill scene from our NENP meetup.
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Looks like Pearl Lake field to me, correct ?
I like the idea to present a panoramic row of Lupines like this, it’s kind of a different take that works very well. I’m usually a big believer that subject should dictate use of horizontal vs. vertical orientation, thus many of my own lupine shots are verticals. But the mass of flowers all in a row here does work pretty well as a horizontal pano. I also like how you have pink ones in the center, with blue ones on each side, that is nicely balanced.
My only significant nit is the pink lupine in the LLC that has fallen over. To my taste it is a minor distraction because it is the only horizontal lupine, and this break in the pattern of vertical lupines pulls my eye to it. I don’t think you can crop it away, I might try Content Aware Fill in Photoshop to get rid of it.
In my own lupine shots, I often struggle with near foreground lupines, and how much of them to cut off or show, I always struggle with that, it is usually not easy to get something with a clean look. I think you ended up doing a pretty reasonable job with that here.
Some folks may comment on the white patches of sky in the trees. I try to look for them and compose to avoid them while shooting, if possible. In this case it looks like you were shooting slightly uphill, and it would be impossible to avoid those sky patches. Maybe you could try cloning over the biggest, brightest one that is dead center, but that may be hard to do here.
Nice seeing the pano approach. As mentioned, it is difficult to find a “clean” composition is these situations I think because of the endless texture. I usually try a less is more approach. Most eyes will be first attracted to the areas of most contrast, here it is the background.
Maybe find a composition where lupines are the out of focus background, with others in the foreground in focus. Depth of field is a way to control some of the texture and what the viewer sees.
The bright and diffused lighting here shows them off quite nicely.
GL
Lovely! I adore the one tipped over in the foreground. It gives this interest beyond intrinsic beauty - it’s the misfit, the scofflaw.
Lovely color Patricia. I also find the horizontal lupine to be a minor distraction and like Eds suggestion to use the Content Aware Fill in PS.
Seems I’m out numbered in my choice of including the poor bent over lupines. My thought process is different from Ed’s… I search out the unusual and different in my images. To me all the lupines in a straight formation would be less inviting than the three in front having their own personalities which draw the viewer in to the image with the mass of upright lupines being supporting elements. I agree that normally the subject determines whether the image is best in a vertical or horizontal format. In this particular image I was attempting to show the size of the field of lupines.
IMG_4497a|690x322
Attached is the revised image. What do you all think? Thanks for looking and critiquing.
I really like your approach here, and I’ll play the devil’s advocate: I like the horizontal, pink lupine. I do think, however, that the image would be stronger cropped down from the top to eliminate some sky, but not so much to cramp the lupine tips. This would make the lupine feel more like their own forest, and keep the eye in the foreground.
I might be inclined also to clone a tish of green over the light pink lupine that is not fully in frame along the bottom edge. I think it would be hard to remove it, but easy to give it more foliage, if that is within your practice.
These comments are based on your initial post, which was more to my liking than the second version. There is too much foliage for my taste in the second version, though of course lupine leaves are beautiful too. In the second version, the larger, more presentational leaves push my eye vertically and up to that sky, whereas the abberant (you go rebels) lupine kept my interest. I would be more inclined to clone some tree leaves over sky than lupine leaves over lupine. My 1/2 penny (maybe not two cents worth).
ML
The pano format works beautifully for this grouping of lupines, Patricia. My thought process mirrors that of @Ed_McGuirk for this scene, so I do enjoy the repost better without that horizontal lupine. I am sure you will get varying opinions on whether to leave or remove it, but ultimately you get to choose which version you like better.
Patricia,
Wow, what a field of lupine! The diversity of color is amazing, as well as the layout and arrangement. For me, I’m with you, I think the oddball, sideways lupine makes this unique. Sure, it’s not conforming, but I think adds interest and if anything creates a conversation piece!
I too think the pano presentation is great. My only suggestion is a small crop off the left the remove the brighter plant on the left edge. One of those things - either more room to the left, or come in a little more on that edge.
Hard to tell scale here, but these guys look pretty big! 3 feet?
One could have a field day in this field… 
Lon
Here is hopefully the final repost. Darkened and cropped treeline, added green at bottom of a few lupines and darkened left edge. Also removed some telephone wires that I missed before.
This version really works for me, Patricia. I really like the emphasis on the lupines, the background cleaner with no sky, and the edge-to-edge lupine line. Really nice!
ML
@Lon_Overacker the lupines in New England are much more interesting to me than the ones I’ve seen in the mountain states out west. The lupines in New Hampshire are 2 to 3 feet tall at peak bloom, and come in shades of blue, purple, pink, and white. The lupines I’ve seen in places like Grand Teton or Mt. Rainier pale in comparison.
Good to know that I’m best known for seeking out the usual and ordinary in my images 
I’ll admit that things like the horizontal lupine can be very subjective, half of the folks here will like it, and half will not, which mirrors the comments that you have been getting. In my subjective opinion, you could make a case that there are two subjects here, the horizontal lupine, and the strong row of vertical lupines in the center, and that these two subjects may compete with each other. I saw the row of lupines as the more dominant subject (it occupies the most real estate), and the horizontal lupine as a secondary element that broke the strong pattern of vertical lupines. Some folks will think that breaking the pattern is a good thing, and some will think it is a distraction, and that’s a matter of personal taste. In my opinion, if you wanted to make an image that’s more about the “outlier” lupine, I think you should make it larger in the frame, so that it doesn’t get overwhelmed by the strong row of lupines behind it. Something like this might do the trick for me.
BTW, the way you handled the sky patches came out really well in the rework, the darker background makes the flowers really pop out.
Strange to say, but it seems las if the flowers are conversing with one another - a floral conversation piece ! Like it a lot.
