The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Pinkladies are my favorite spring flowers. I love their delicate lines, petals and yellow centers. This image combines the in-focus bouquet with a soft, blurred version.
Specific Feedback
I am interested in comments about overall effect of the combined images, composition and lighting.
Technical Details
Olympus E-M1Mark II
1/6 sec
f/4.0
ISO 64
lens: OLYMPUS M.12-100mm F4.0
2nd image with Slow Shutter app on iPhone 13 Pro: ISO 200, F1.5, 1.7S
Hi Ann. I like the lighting and the delicate nature of the flowers. Good detail in the foreground flowers and I like the layering effect of the combined images. I could see a crop to remove the lower part of the vase.
Ann Louise: It’s been a minute since you’ve posted so welcome back and thanks for a wonderful image. One of my colleagues at the old NPN, Pat Sampson, did some marvelous work with still lifes and vases. I love the color palette especially and hoe you managed your DOF which accentuates the overall softness. Your blending technique works really well. Most excellent and great to have you back. >=))>
What pulls me in is that whispered hush around the blossoms, as if the flowers had exhaled and the air still remembered them. The soft multiple exposure feels intentional and romantic, evening primroses caught somewhere between bloom and daydream. The cut crystal vase anchors the softness with a welcome bite of texture, like a small clear bell ringing under all that pink.
Where it wobbles a touch: the dreaminess flirts with going too far, and the upper flowers lose just enough definition that the eye drifts without quite landing. A sharper anchor flower somewhere in the center could give the haze something to push against. The background gradient leans a little muddy on the left, slightly heavier than the mood calls for.
Light is gentle and flattering, the palette cohesive in pinks, creams and a cool sage that lets the petals glow. Processing reads as deliberate painterly rather than accidental soft, though pulling back maybe ten percent on the diffusion would keep the magic and return a breath of crispness to those lovely veined petals.
A quiet, tender image. Just ask one flower to step forward and take a bow.
A fine image, Ann Louise. I like the double layering you did to accomplish this and it works quite well. I do like @Allen_Brooks idea of doing something about the vase. I’d be tempted to go with the in-focus vase and mask out the vase in the soft focus layer.
Hi Ann Louise. This is lovely and I really like the way you have softened it by layering rather than just blurring a single image. I do agree with others that masking out the bottom part of the vase would concentrate attention more on the most prominant flower. From the latter, my attention gently glides back through the various layers and peacefully departs at the top edge. Nice.
@Phil_G@Bill_Fach@Dennis_Plank@Allen_Brooks@sebastien-maloron:
Thanks to all of you for your impressions and great suggestions about masking the vase. I will try that. I found it challenging to capture the right amount of blur to combine with the in-focus flowers. I can soften the top of the sharper flowers a little more.
Sebastian, I am honored to receive your poetic observations and suggestions!
I am having too much fun with ICM and long exposure these days. Your comments are most helpful.
Good to see you here again, Ann Louise! A lovely image, suiting the delicacy of this Primrose. Good points above about lightening the left edge. I can see softening or removing the one OOF flower that is touching the edge and I would think of blurring the base of the vase so it disappears – that would suit the dreamy nature of the rest of the image. Very creative!
