The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
I was attracted to this Spear lily in the garden of a local castle mainly because it seemed to convey a feeling of peace. I tried to capture that feeling and portray it by finding a simple composition and then, during post, by darkening some of the leaves surrounding the emerging flowers.
Feedback Requested
I’m mostly interested in whether the image creates a feeling of peace, as it did for me while I asked it for permission to capture its portrait.
This is a gorgeous portrait which definitely conveys the peace of the Lily.
I’m not familiar with the plant, but I can see the work done in post carefully dodging and burning to create the gorgeous tones and tonal range.
For me, I would subtly darken the lights a little more to increase the contrast but this is so much a personal thing that there is no right answer, and the final decision will be made when producing a print - the essential end of this wonderful composition and moment.
This reminds me of Edward Weston’s Pepper series and the flower work of Mapplethorpe and Imogen Cunningham.
I think it’s so dynamic and interesting that peace isn’t what I get from this. Hope that doesn’t annoy too much, but what I do feel is positive and mostly along the lines of wonder. The textures are so smooth and inviting even though there isn’t much of a sense of scale here. Not sure if I need my whole hand to experience it, or just a fingertip. There is a sense of mystery, too, that works to make the viewing feel special and privileged. Nice work!
Phil: I’m late to this party so my apologies. Like @Kris_Smith I don’t get a sense of peace mostly because we tend to associate dark images with something more foreboding. That said, I don’t perceive anything sinister and I’m still organizing my thoughts. It is a solid and intriguing comp and a different take on a fine subject. Nicely conceived and presented. >=))>
Shades of Edward Weston! This is beautiful. Your processing is outstanding.
I don’t get a feeling of peace, though. As others have said, it’s partly the darkness, although darkness wouldn’t necessarily not be peaceful. I think it’s the darkness in conjunction with all the pointy bits in the frame and the downward line of the flower. That being said, the contrast of the pointy bits with the smoothness of the petals & leaves is quite striking.
Thanks for your kind feedback @huw1@Kris_Smith@Bill_Fach and @Bonnie_Lampley. It seems that my feeling of deep peace that I felt when photographing this plant didn’t carry over into the image, but that’s fine. My feelings for it obviously originated at the time of capture, as it was a very peaceful atmosphere in beautiful surroundings. I shouldn’t have expected that to have been characterised in a dark monochrome image that, as Bonnie described, has a lot of ‘pointy bits’. Cheers.
