The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We had a very small group from our camera club visit a small private preserve in the Grande Ronde valley of Oregon this past weekend. For its size it has an amazing diversity of habitats including some Ponderosa Pines. This is the female “flower”
Specific Feedback
I kind of screwed this up when I photographed it by placing it higher in the frame that I should have. After looking at it, I realized that it wanted more room above it than below so I ended up with a bit tighter crop than I had intended. Hopefully, it’s not too tight.
Technical Details
Sony A7Riv, FE 70-200 f/4 Macro @ 143 mm, tripod, f/22, 1/100, iso 1000. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 6528x5240. I cleaned up some bright dead needles in the background and darkened the background branch in a couple of places where it was a little bright. Brought up the flower and added a bit of micro-contrast and saturation to it. Taken at 10:56 a.m. on May 19th.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
The tight crop makes it feel more deliberate than you describe. I remember this type of “flower” from the giant White Pine that hung over my deck in NH. Every year we’d get loads of “rice crispies” all over the place. Drove us nuts. These look much larger and fatter and remind me of skeins of yarn, all fat and full of possibility. Everything looks fresh and full of cool detail. Sounds like you got a great opportunity for this kind of thing. Oh and maybe taking the bg branch down a bit more would be helpful. Now I look at it more, it draws the eye. Bad branch!
Dennis: This brings back some fond memories. I lived in Spokane in the late 70s and our house was carved out of a Ponderosa Pine forest. Your tight crop works for me and I love the subject. >=))>
Dennis, late to the party here. I love the fine detail in the little cones and shoots. Beautiful colors. Good job with any cleanup you did. This just looks so fresh and I think I can smell it from here. . .
Wonderful image, Dennis. We have a lot of ponderosa pine where I live, and I’ve noticed a lot of these flowers over the past couple of weeks. I like your crop and positioning of the flower with most of the elements radiating toward the top of the frame. I find these flowers easy to pass by, but they are definitely worth stopping to appreciate.
