The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Reproducing is something succulents do well, but this caught my eye. The mother piece was knocked off the plant in a windstorm a couple of weeks ago. (It was raining horizontally.) I brought it inside to photograph, but I was already busy with eclipse preparations when the weather unexpectedly cleared enough to give me a chance to shoot the current comet on several different nights. That and a new method of processing comets occupied my attention for 2 weeks, while the baby plant kept growing. I haven’t managed to get an image that conveys its visual appearance, either with stacking or with different apertures, but this is going to have to do, as it’s now back to eclipse preparations. (But I did get a comet image I’m delighted with – posted in the Nightscape section.)
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome!
Technical Details
Focus stack, shot in window light. Very little adjustment to the raw files. Into Zerene to stack and the final went into PS for retouching stacking artifacts and some BG work. B/W gave a more pleasing final look.
You may not consider this adequate, Diane, but I like it a lot. I can see that finding an angle that really emphasizes the baby plant is a challenge, but it comes across quite well in this version.
A stunning range of tonal values from the bright highlights to the deep shadows, Diane! It gives the image a sculptural quality, making the plant’s form stand out with almost a three-dimensional feel against the black background.
Thanks, @Dennis_Plank, @Steve_Rosendahl, @Saundie and @Barbara_Djordjevic! It’s still sitting on the countertop, waiting to be planted and still growing. I need to give up and plant it! Maybe it will have babies again next spring.
Hi Diane,
Sounds like a busy several weeks! That’s a great sign and I’m looking forward to seeing all you are posting.
This is wonderful as a black and white. I just adore the simplicity of it and the subtle texture in the flower(s). The background seems like it has a texture that echoes the flower’s own texture, and that is really captivating as it pulls me beyond the flower, giving me a more 3 dimensional effect.
Everybody seems to display flowers in colour, but my preference is bnw. This is a delicate and vulnerable plant, and yet survives in the harshest conditions. It could be a metaphor for where we’re at with wildlife (and human) extinction threats. Just my political rant… the image needs no improvement in my mind.
