This photo was also taken during the same autumn workshop as my previous post “Grass stars”. This is a plant submerged into a natural pond, the uppermost leaves are floating on the water surface.
For me the plant has managed to grow out of the darkness and finally reach the light at the surface and seems to finally do reasonable well. This could also be a metaphor for overcoming difficult parts of life.
This image has previously been posted here at NPN, so it has been fine-tuned based on comments from NPN members.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any comments are welcome!
Technical Details
1/40, f/13, ISO 800, 60 mm (120 mm equiv.) macro lens, Olympus OM-D E-M1X camera
Hi Ola. What a great photo! I enjoy how you composed it with the light and color of the leaves and the dark surroundings really emphasizing that. Its not a problem, but i could not tell that part of the plant was underwater, until i read your description.
This is an interesting and original scene you’ve made here. It just feels a bit dull and flat so I would raise the white point a lot here, you have tons of room on the histogram, and then darken the midtones to reintroduce the contrast. Other than that I think it’s great!
Thanks a lot for your kind comments and advice, Eric. I did keep the brightness down because I thought that it matched the mood I wanted to achieve better. However, the image has more immediate impact with the adjustments you propose. I have to digest this for a while!
Regarding the water: The water where very important since it created the special colors and light in the image and also of course influenced how the stones look like, but to me it was not important if the viewer recognize or not if there is water in the image.
Exceptional photograph, and I love the muted color palette. I also like Eric’s interpretation as the lit plants “pop” a little more from the background. Fantastic work. Thanks for sharing.
What an exquisite photo! Great mood and beautiful processing with those darker and brownish tones and balanced yet dynamic composition.
It takes some real effort to find anything to nitpick about but if I push myself, I find two minor things. I find the thin horizontal twig (or leaf stem?) near the LRC pulling my eye a bit. The thicker twig even closer to the corner could perhaps also be a bit distracting but I’m not sure. If you agree, just darkening it’s highlights should do the trick. The even thicker stick reaching towards the centre of the photo, I’d say is instead an asset, leading my gaze into the photo, but it might perhaps work even better if its highlights were faded off slightly, towards the lower edge of the frame. The final nit pick would be the tiny bright spot right up in the ULC.
All in all, only very minor details in a truly wonderful image!
@StéphaneJean, thanks for your kind comments and advice. Appreciated! This got me to finally carry out a rework of this imagfe considering all comments given. Posted at the top.
