The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
So many Indian Pipe wildflowers in the yard this year - this is a 22 image stack with Pennsylvania sedge in the background. As with all flowers on the forest floor, the scenes are mostly crowded with debris and other plants. I cleaned up a little, but didn’t want it to be too static or sterile so left a lot both in the field and in post.
Specific Feedback
There was a bit of a breeze so the grass moved while the focus bracketing worked through the shots. I think I got it to look right in the final image, but maybe I missed something. The original file is in a horizontal position, but I took it vertical because not much was added by including all of it so there is room to play with the crop. Except in one direction - above. There was a tangle of stuff further back and on top of the flowers and I cropped it in camera. Can add canvas if needed.
Technical Details
Tripod & in-camera focus bracketing - two sessions
Basic global adjustments to the source files in Lr - nothing drastic and no masks. Zerene for the stack, retouching a DMap image with both PMax details and softer backgrounds from the original files. Readjusted contrast and color in Lr and then to Ps for a couple of distraction fixes. Cropped in Lr for the final photo.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Kris, I appreciate you posting this one so we can see what they look like in color. The plant doesn’t have much color to it, so now I see why you went B&W in the previous post. This one might have been better in B&W, but then folks like me wouldn’t know what it really looked like. Because there is not much color in it, the grass is calling for attention in away, because it has more color and contrast to it. Very interesting plant though.
Kris, I like this colored version as well. The vertical view works with the tall and skinny Pipes. I also like that you stacked all the FG. I don’t think anything is needed to improve this shot. The little debris does make it look more natural. NO lampposts, just real nice, Thanks
What an amazing flower! I’ve never seen anything like it. I like the composition showing its habitat and the color showing off the ghostly paleness of the plant. I wonder about the yellow thing in the BG, though – might be easy to make it a little more green? I’d be tempted to obscure the darker piece in the UR corner, with maybe a swipe of 50% opacity cloning.
The DOF is perfect for the shot and I like the sedge BG which gradually softens as the eye moves back into the frame. The comp works for me and this provides a wonderful portrayal of an Indian pipe plant…Jim
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman. @SkipsPics, @Diane_Miller, @Jim_Zablotny & @Dennis_Plank - I’m glad you enjoyed this little scene. My brain is trained to see these in the forest now and I spot them all the time. Not often are they so photogenic, but at this stage they are. Right now in early September, they are long pollinated, standing straight up and losing their petals. The seed pod will dry and split and overwinter.
Glad the stack looks good. It was a tough one with the waving grasses and I compromised with this background. The dark bits could be finessed though, I agree.
