The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is my best photo to date of soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum). They grow prolifically along a portion of the walking/biking trail next to the Sacramento River near our house. They really came on strong after the 2018 fire. It takes 10 years for them to go from seed to flowering plant! I’ll post a link to a USDA page that describes them.
Specific Feedback
Oh, any comments welcome.
Technical Details
For some reason, I don’t have the EXIF data for this. I’m sure it was made with a telephoto, at maximum reach and wide open. I added a texture over the top, probably to hide all the chaotic bits around them.
What an amazing plant! For some odd reason the stalks remind me of asparagus and the little flowers are gorgeous – and apparently tasty. Unfortunately, all those buds don’t bloom at the same time.
I managed to photograph some maybe 10-15 years ago – don’t know if they are keyworded. I’ll see if I can find them. The archives are a mess.
Funny you mention how long it takes these to produce flowers - I just learned that Pink Lady’s Slippers take about the same amount of time for theirs, too. Being an orchid they are ornery flowers and have bad relationships with their pollinators.
But anyway…this is so interesting and different. However did you manage that background?! The angles and organization works well, but I’d be tempted to slightly lighten and blur the close branch coming in on the top right. It pulls the eye and seems out of harmony with the rest of the image given its placement. Other than that, I got nothin’. Great use of a square crop, too. My eye naturally wanders in circles taking it all in.
Thanks, @Diane_Miller and @Kris_Smith. Diane, the stalks do look like those of asparagus. Kris, I shot this at f/5.6 (found the EXIF data) at 220 mm, so the background was nice and soft. Although I added a texture, it’s pretty faint. The light was quite nice, as it was about 7:15 in the evening when I made this. And the background plants were far enough away that they didn’t detract.
