Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Subtitle: Mourning the Lotus Pond. I managed to discover it only two years before it met an untimely end. This morning I came upon some older shots (from 2019) I had never processed and hoping to do them justice. In the mornings there would be dappled light for a while and droplets often collected from overnight watering. The surface tension on the leaves was wonderful!
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome!
Technical Details
No LR adjustments needed. Two impromptu manual focus frames combined in PS. Shot on a tripod so easy to mask by hand.
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So sorry to hear about the Lotus Pond, Diane. I am glad you found it before it’s end.
This is an interesting shot. I love the shapes you have captured, and the different shades of greens and yellows. Very nice. Glad you found it in your archives and worked on it.
Sorry the lotus pond is no more. I do like this image especially the edge of the water on the leaf. Really cool. Intriguing image.
Wonderful! I always seem to get to our local lotus ponds too late in the day for the more discreet light which you captured here. I get very bright reflections (fascinating too, but usually blown!) Those pads and the rainwater create endless possibilities, don’t they? I love the layered reflections on the vertical sides here, and the sense of a miniature ecosystem caught by the tiny pond-within-a-pond. I also like how the green leaf is blurred to highlight the centre. Combining two shots (at different focal lengths) makes up for the fact you couldn’t stand directly above (?). This is an inspiring shot.
Oh, just lovely. Surface tension on lily pads makes for such interesting shapes. I like that curvy shadow in the water, too, and the tiny water drops.
Since you’ve cropped it square, I’m thinking there might be more frame? To me, the central water feature feels a bit crowded. I think because the lighting is relatively even across the frame. With the idea that you wanted a square crop, though, I fiddled with exposures to enhance the curvy lightest area. My idea was to make that more of the main feature so it would feel more balanced. Of course, this changes the mood of the photo, so please take this with a grain of salt! (looks cool in b&w, too) I couldn’t resist since I adore water on lily pads.
Adjustments, in ACR:
Thanks, @Bonnie_Lampley – I like your more dramatic lighting! There isn’t much more canvas on the sides. It was shot as a vertical, with another closer leaf just out of the frame on the left. This was a very small pond with only one spot to stand in and a lot of large leaves out of reach of any chance to hold them back. I could try to eke out a bit more room, and I will play with your lighting idea. I have quite a few pictures of large droplets like this, and should have done focus stacks on some of them – it was all manual with that camera.
Here’s the original frame:
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