The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Again, I was photographing dahlias at a favorite location, Bullington Gardens, near Hendersonville, NC. The garden has 8-10 (I haven’t counted them) rows featuring an amazing variety of flowers. I’ve been doing a lot of high-key work this year and decided to treat this flower in the same way.
Specific Feedback
I’d love to know if the high-key treatment works for you!
I saw your intimate waterfall introduction. Outstanding image.
This one is right up there too. Outstanding. I love Dahlias. We have a farm nearby that has acres of varieties of Dahlias. It’s so much fun.
I really like the high-key treatment here. And the B&W. Simply wonderful, mysterious, and catching. It’s also an unusual composition, well done. If it were mine, I might consider a square crop to reduce the right negative space, but that might break the comp so just a thought.
Thanks for posting this, Susanna. Looking forward to more of your fine work.
OK, I don’t want to demean a very serious fine art image with a foolish reaction, but it saves dredging up serious thoughts and lots of typing (which I will try to master in my next life).
This is clearly awesome – so well thought out and not by accident. The high key treatment is wonderful, with perfect tonalities. High key can so easily lack enough contrast, but here you have the touches of just enough soft contrast in the right places. And there is a wonderful corresponding balance of small areas of lovely detail.
The conformist in me (relegated to a small cerebral region that is usually quiet) wants to see just a bit more on top and possibly less on the right and more on the left. The part about the top is just greed to see a bit more of this gorgeous flower.
Thanks, David! I thought about a square crop and decided against it, but with that said, there might be uses in which a square crop would be better. I use square crops a lot.
I can’t imagine acres of dahlias! How cool would that be. In addition to Bullington, we do have a dahlia farm that raises the flowers for florists, but they tend to be just several varieties, so it’s a little limited.
Diane, thanks so much for your comments! Wow! I appreciate it. I don’t recall how much of the flower I had at the top. I’ll check. But, I believe it was slightly cut off and I took a little more off, just for balance.
By the way, we’ve not had a good summer for Milky Way photography. Every time the moon and other conditions could potentially produce a good night, it’s been overcast! A friend of mine headed to the Keys and sent a wonderful MW shot! So jealous!! I’ll definitely visit your website to check out your work. Thanks, again!
I love the depth of field you used, Susanna. The larger contrast in the in-focus petals melting into the extremely low contrast out of focus petals really creates a neat mood in this image. For me, placing the bloom on the left feels a little forced.
From what I see on Cloudy Nights, I don’t think anyone anywhere in the country has had a good year for astro. It seems it is only clear around the full moon. The last two new moons we flew to one of the darkest areas in the country, and the skies were smoky. And the second trip, a $20 cable on the tracker failed, in the bargain. I’m finding astro and night work a very frustrating endeavor.
Susanna, really? Going through the thumbnails of the latest uploads I picked three so far to look at a bit closer and they were all yours. I might become a real fan The high-key and monochrome works so well. It makes it feel like an etching and that’s something I really like. I also like the composition and DoF, which really gives the viewer only a part of the flower to really look at. The rest is for us to feel and given the aesthetic of the photograph that is easily possible. An image with a lot of feeling from the photographer, triggering just as much feeling in the viewer. A-mazing. Thanks for sharing. Again.
Holger, thanks so much! I saw the messages from you regarding the other two images, but I have to figure out how to respond to them directly (I’m still a newbie!). I appreciate your comments/feedback. Even though I’m not totally isolated where I am, since we have an active photography community, I still get limited feedback on my images. It’s so helpful to receive the feedback that I have thus far in NPN. I’ve got to check out your work and will do that today. Thanks again!
Holger, I just visited your website! Your B&W is wonderful. Love the landscapes. And, on your home page, the image of the tree tops is very similar to a couple I’ve created. Reaching for the sky! That’s what we do with our art.
Susanna, I love the way the flower fades into the background. It doesn’t come to an end. That wouldn’t happen without a shallow depth of field and a high-key, monochromatic approach. I’d say you got everything right here.
This time of year Flora is flooded with dahlias and this is a nice entry into that group. Including the stem isn’t something that gets done often and between you and @David_Bostock I’m getting spoiled with gentle, striking, high-key images. Way to make the editor’s pick so much harder!
The high-key and monochrome works so well. It makes it feel like an etching and that’s something I really like. I also like the composition and DoF, which really gives the viewer only a part of the flower to really look at. The rest is for us to feel and given the aesthetic of the photograph that is easily possible. An image with a lot of feeling from the photographer, triggering just as much feeling in the viewer. A-mazing. Thanks for sharing. Again.