The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Woodland pinkroot is a hummingbird pollinated wildflower that can be found in the Southeast and southern portion of the Midwest in North America. Classified as a member of the Loganiaceae, which are mainly tropical in distribution. I decided to illuminate this one with three flashes at varying power to help pull the bract from the dark BG.
Specific Feedback
How does this one look? The stack was fairly clean.
Technical Details
Z9 200mm f4 (1/30 sec at f9.0, ISO 125, 3 flashes at 0.7, -1.7, and -2.3ev) 25 image Stack (Pmax), Topaz DeNoise, Brightness & Contrast, slight crop for comp, rubber stamp tool to remove orphaned leaf.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Wow – what a wonderful flower! Completely new to me, and gorgeous. Gorgeously lighted and composed , too. My only thought would be to darken the brighter area in the UR corner. The UL doesn’t bother me as it is more diffuse and the flower is pointing at it.
Beautiful group, Jim . It would be interesting to see this at a later stage, as I imagine perhaps the flowers open and fade one by one. Also to catch a hummingbird feeding on it! You caught it at its best, though, with the single first bloom. I agree with Diane about the TRC - a minor fix.
This looks great, Jim. I planted this in my garden at the old house and it was always a delight to watch bloom…although I never saw a hummer visit. The details in the plant stand out well.
Oh what a cool flower. Never seen one before as it seems I’ve always lived out of its range. The stack looks good to me except for a tiny bit of haloing above the stamen (? I stink at these plant parts). What a great angle you got on it to show how the blossoms grow and yeah, I’d love to see it at a more advanced stage, too. Agree about the ULC, but also think the flower itself could use some finessing in the red and green areas. They look a bit too dark overall and wonder if some curves adjustment to bring up the mids and whites might give it a bit of zip. That might mean you can’t go as dark on your bg though as it would look weird, but that’s easily handled. I also wonder if a touch more room to the right where the palnt is pointing might work, too. Fabulous job with the whole effort.
I was wondering about making the reds a little brighter, but without losing the gorgeous color. Select > Color Range might pick them out cleanly and a small tweak with Selective Color or maybe just Curves might be fun to play with.
I never heard of this one, Jim. A gorgeous plant and well presented. Those reds are just awesome, and your flash work made the stamen and inside of the petals pop very well. The way the flower cluster curves to the right tends to give it some directionality, so possibly a bit more room on that side might be nice.
I love the rich dark colors throughout this on Jim. What a neat plant. Never heard of it. I too would love to see a progression as it matures if you had the time and ability to visit a few more times.
Beautiful, @Jim_Zablotny! I agree with @Diane_Miller on the URC. If you do make any adjustments via Levels, or whichever filter you’re using, to refine the flower (which I don’t think is needed — I like that rich red), you could create an inverse mask (in PS) on the layer and paint in the areas, using a white brush, that you want to adjust. I do this frequently on small areas I want to adjust without affecting the entire image. PS And I’m sure you’re aware of that technique!
Thank you @Diane_Miller , @Mike_Friel , @Mark_Seaver , @Kris_Smith , @Dennis_Plank , @Ed_Williams , and @Susanna_Euston for your critiques. I did darken the upper RH corner and worked on some of the subtle halos. I also re-applied Levels and slid the midtones towards the left which brightened up the reds. I do have another version with 3 flowers open, but still need to address halos with that particular image. The flowers usually open sequentially to keep the pollinators visiting over a long period of time. It is a pretty cool plant and one of the few members of the Loganiaceae you will find in North America…Jim
