A flowering Night Fragrant Epidendrum (Epidendrum nocturnum) seemingly calling out to the rising full moon at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. I spent many nights coming back to this orchid trying to find the best composition in anticipation of the full moon. While this endeavor led to many a mosquito bite this orchid died shortly after so each night counted.
Specific Feedback Requested
This is a fairly quick edit. I did use a flash with a warming gel to light the orchid. I would welcome any new ideas regarding the editing.
Very artistic presentation and I like the different elements in the composition. The lip of the orchid flower is fairly bright , but with sufficient details present. I do not see any reason for editing the photo so I think this is awesome…Jim
A wonderful and unique composition! Fascinating subject and I love the BG, with the very interesting trees, and of course the moon is fabulous! I love the deep blue sky and can’t see anything I would change!
Nice composition and concept Dvir. For me the image is about the relationship between the moon and the flower. I would draw more attention to this with a tighter crop and eliminate any distractions. Here a quick edit. I also darkened the right side.
I really like what Andre has done with this already excellent photo. Thank you for posting so that we may reap the rewards from your careful planning. The white on the flower itself seems a bit bright for the scene and I’d darken the plant itself somewhat as well, but not a ton. The full moon clearly is giving us the illusion of brightness. You could play with some light fall off that might happen naturally with ambient light. It looks like the flash was positioned to the side of the plant and so I’d have it fall away as it got further from wherever you placed it. Thanks so much for this distinctive shot!
This is a very interesting photo, the flower, the trunk and the green pods work nice together. I like the colors and the moodiness of this scene, but I do like Andre’s rework. The trunk of the green plant is very unusual and because of that, I think it competes with the flower and moon. Maybe you could have 2 images, the moon and flower and the flower and trunk. I like this shot even with out the crop. Nice job.
Thank you for your thoughts Kristen! I went ahead and reworked it using Andre’s ideas of cropping more and I also muted it a touch to feel a bit less flashed.
