Our Jane Magnolia has just exploded with blooms and I spotted this duo and thought it made an interesting subject. The trick was to get both centers on the same plane of focus in a light breeze. The BG is one of our azaleas that is waking up after recovering from the Christmas freeze.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
BG too distracting or OOF/interesting enough to be complementary?
Technical Details
Sony A7RIII
Sony FE 70-200 G @ 156mm
ISO 400, 1/160 @ f8
Gorgeous, Bill. No, IMHO, the background is not distracting at all. For me, the redish/purple centers of the magnolia blossoms compliment the azalea backdrop. The detail in the magnolia is enviously beautiful!
Background works well here - dark, but not black which gives a less natural vibe to flower photos. The juxtaposition of a whole blossom with one that has lost its petals is very interesting and I think you nailed the focal plane - doesn’t that give you the pip sometimes? It does me. Looks like you might have room to brighten the flowers just a tiny bit - maybe some dodging and burning with masks to give the petals more contour and modeling. It’s nice that someone’s garden is doing its thing. We’ve got a ways to go up here!
Bill, this is a really nice capture of the different stages. The BG looks good to me, with it being darker and making the subject stand out nicely. So glad that your flowers made it through the deep freeze this winter. Our Blooming Pear trees are about to bloom, and with that comes the Honey Bees and who knows what else. Been getting my camera setup for macro. Yahoo!
I think what I like the most is the color contrast between the shades of purple in the petals and the red and green colors in the BG. Wonderfully balanced and vibrant.
I also like the diagonal line created by the branch and the juxtaposition of one flower with petals and one without. The broad green leaf at the end seems to make up for the missing petals in my mind.
The only “small” nit I have is that the flower on the right seems to be slightly over sharpened (the tiny bright specks are the indicators for me).
BTW, I am a fan of thin borders like you have in this image, they produce a nice virtual window frame that help keep my attention inside the border.
It adds a nice finishing touch as well.
Some of our flowers here in NC are just beginning to show up as Shirley Freeman said (she lives in NC too ), another week or two should be good for some flora/macro shots.
