Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Wander in Wonder
The only way to walk in the forest is to wander in wonder. The destination must be state of mind and not a location at the end of the trail. There are times when circumstances dictate that the path must be long, for our minds can become too entangled in the worries of life and do not quickly escape their trap. Other times, we are better prepared and we quickly begin to be pulled into the embrace of wild places. Here, in the depth of an Oregon forest, beauty is readily apparent at every turn. Moody light from an overcast sky filters its way through the canopy of trees and finds its way to softly illuminate this Dwarf Rose. It was wander-full!
Specific Feedback
I’m a bit worried that the dark branch to the right is distracting, but I also think it gives some depth to the image. There’s a fair bit of work done here. I’ve added a dark vignette, brightened the flower a bit, softened the background and sharpened the flower. I was looking to create an even more dreamy scene that it already was.
Technical Details
Nikon D850
Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6
ISO 640, f/5.6, 1/50th, 300mm
This is a single image. I always use a single spot focus and put it right on the flower. Processed in Lightroom Classic CC with some noise reduction and additional sharpening in Topaz Sharpen
Critique Template
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1 Like
Paul, wild roses have their own delicate beauty. This shows that off well. I’m thinking that the flower and the sharper leaves would make a good scene with a very similar statement. The overall darkness does make it nicely moody.
I really like the depth of field, Paul and the angle you shot the flower at to get the sprays of leaves is awesome. I’m thinking you might want to look at a bit tighter crop. I think some off both the top and the right would emphasize the flower and leaves. As far as cleanup goes, there’s a brighter brown oof streak just to the right of the vertical branch that draws my eye quite a bit.
Lovely!! The lone flower is wonderful and the surrounding leaves very graceful. I don’t mind the dark trunk as it is nicely contained int he dark BG. I don’t find anything major I would change except I’d love to see more brightness/contrast in the center around the flower. It’s difficult to present dark scenes as our eyes expect a degree of contrast. The lighter J-shaped branch toward the UR could be reduced but that’s a small item for me – it adds some authenticity – makes it feel like not a lot has been done.
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@Paul_Holdorf First of all, thanks for your wonderful writing! It was such a nice way to set the stage to view your lovely image. I think that I agree with @Dennis_Plank 's thoughts on a tighter crop (top and right). And there is a light twig that comes off the dark stem (on the right) that curves upward. It pulls my eye and could be toned down.
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Thank you so much @Susanna_Euston I occasionally get some funny responses to my writing. My favorites are TLDR, which I had to look up: Too long, didn’t read! The other is a picture is worth a thousand words, dont need yours! I just laugh it off because it’s an enjoyable way to lose myself for a few minutes! I tried a few edits and will show those in the next comment. I appreciate your kind words and advice.
@Mark_Seaver @Dennis_Plank @Diane_Miller @Susanna_Euston I tried the crop off the upper right but felt like it was a bit too unbalanced. This led me to try to warp the image to the left but then I had to do a bunch of cloning on the right edge. What do you think of the two
Hi Paul. For me the second is a more pleasing composition and the flower seems to have more presence in it.
I prefer the second of these two but it still feels too underexposed. It’ s a quandary how to present a dark scene. Our eyes and brains make adjustments in real life and it can be difficult to try to match that with a print or a web file. For comparison, I brightened it up with a curves and lowered saturation a little on greens and yellows and masked out the flower center on that adjustment layer. Then I did a quick mask with a large soft brush and lowered the brightness a little on the large soft area on the right, to see if it would make the dark vertical stem a little less prominent.
I would do the exposure adjustment in the initial raw stage and probably pull down Highlights to see if that helps the flower. It looks a little washed out in my version.
When opening it in PS I see the file is in AdobeRGB. Converting to sRGB will give more accurate colors on more browsers and monitors.
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