Pretty in Pink - Especially for Izzie nevertheless - ie Critique please

[Brownbear]

Hi Greg,

Thank you for taking the time to provide a critique. Immensely helpful and truly appreciated.

The specifics are very helpful as they point out things that I need to learn to look for and see myself.

I brought out the detail in the salmon coloured petal by decreasing the highlights. So I will have to think about that. The hard line is a mystery.

Thank you!

In the first shot, the hard edge of the petal in the lower left corner spoils the composition for me. That problem is not present in the 2nd shot, although I feel there is just slightly too much detail in the salmon coloured petal. I really like the 2nd shot because it is about colour with just the hint of form to give it context.

I find the third shot too busy, and I don't like the dark background top right and centre.

I think the 4th has potential if it weren't for the uppermost petal, top left.

The 5th is my favourite because it shows the form of the petal emerging from the expanse of colour. Although, once again, I am not enamored of the dark background peeking through on the lower left of the frame. Ken's crop overcomes that problem but I find it too severe. I prefer to see more colour above the petals as per your original

[deetheturk]

Very nice Christina, they are all beautiful but #5 is my favorite

[IzzieK]

The responses to this post on curves and petals and colours is just great learning for everybody, including me...some are a mouthful to digest all at once. You are truly an inspiration, Christina...one flower, just one flower and the comments made me feel giddy already...

'Gotta love these folks...


(and so I go back to bed...)

[bnnrcn]

Hi Christina, I will read the other comments later because I have no time for the time being and I have to log off, but why I like the composition in #5 is that, first of all it is simple, sharp lines of the two petals define that it is a lovely flower in fact, the way the two sharp lines stand in the composition creates a balanced look ( I mean good framing), not too centred. I also like the softness and the colours and although one can easily understand that it is a flower shot it is also an abstract image for me. And I was impressed by it as soon as I looked at it. I hope this helps

Hi Frank,

Thank you for letting me know your preference.. My husband likes #4 as he thinks the lines are sensuous. He also stated that he didn't like #1 & #2 because he can't tell it is a flower. I'm trying to open the door here for people to say which images just don't work. I love the colours but I'm not not sure if enough of the images are in focus or not.

#3 is the most obvious flower, followed by #4.

Binnur... Thank you. I like #5 the best for the colours and single sharp edge. What is it about the composition of this one that you like best?

[Ken Curtis]

I think #3 is the most normal of the bunch but that the very bottom half doesn't work. Also if I move that image around in the lytebox it seems to appeal more with a bit cropped off of the top? If you agree, why would that be?

I suspect that cropping a bit off the top is because it eliminates some or all of the black areas. When people look at images, their eyes are drawn to the brightest, or the sharpest, or the most colorful areas. In this case the dark areas pull at the eye, which takes the viewer's attention off the beautiful curves in the petals.

#4 - I'm not sure if I am understanding "Balance" If you could further my understanding of balance I would be appreciative. Is it because the top/bottom (more in focus/out of focus) OR the sharp versus soft OR ?

Not sure I can give a complete explanation, but when an image has balance, it is more relaxing and peaceful. When out of balance, the image creates tension in the viewer. Balance applies to objects, colors, sharpness, etc. For an example, think of an image having a black background and a large white ball located very near the lower left corner. If there were no other objects in the image, the composition would be unbalanced. The white ball has a lot of visual weight and there is nothing offsetting it towards the top and right side. Sometimes the unbalance, and resulting visual tension, are desirable to cause an impact on the viewer. If another white ball were placed in the upper right portion of the image, it would more so balance the visual weights in the composition. The objects do not need to have the same size. An image with a person on the left side of the beach in a seascape might be balanced by a small boat (small because it is so far away) at the right and on the horizon.

Below is a photo I took recently doing some light painting. The smiley face and the Milky Way balance each other. If the smiley face were on the right under the Milky Way, all the visual weight would be on the right side and the composition unbalanced.



But like I said, it isn't necessary for all photos to have balance.

In your image, the top has details and visual weight, but the bottom is non-descript with nothing significant for the eye to discover.

And while I have your undivided attention, could you speak to the use of negative space in an image and balance, just in general. It is just something I'm trying to learn about and for some reason I suspect that you might have a great simple explanation.

Negative space is a large region in the image, possibly occupying half or more of the canvas, that is generally uniform with nothing much to see. It could be a very blue, cloudless sky or a black background, or an expanse of water with no birds, whales, waves, boats or other objects in the region.

Negative space helps force the viewer to look at a main object or subject in another part of the image. This is because in the negative space, there is really nothing to see, and therefore, not a distraction to pull the viewer's eye away.

Need I say sometimes it is a good idea to be careful where you post! Some of us are loaded with endless questions.

You're so needy! Just kidding.

I know some of CiC's readers will have other thoughts on these subjects. Hope this helps a bit.

Ken

[Brownbear]

Thank you Izzie, David and Binnur!

Binnur - a special thanks for the further explanation. Very helpful.

Ken - a huge special thank you to you! I do have a couple of text books that cover these topics but I still have a hard time seeing balance and figuring out appropriate negative space for some images. I just knew (I'm highly intuitive as well as needy (but my questions are for the benefit of all) ) that you would be able to explain these in a simple manner relating to these flowers. Simply put I make the best of the wealth of knowledge available on this forum, and your reply is very helpful indeed!

Thank you to everyone for your very helpful replies, advice and critiques. The next time I try photographing flowers in this manner I will have a better understanding of the subject. It is very unlikely that I will be able to find this same flower again (located in a bush at a bus stop) but I will be well prepared for my next try. I will play with one or two of these in post processing using everyone's input, and post only if it is improved.

Thank you!

[Brownbear]

I played with images I like best which were 1,4 and 5 trying to fit in everyone's feedback and advice (balance, less centered, no dark spots from the sky), while at the same time trying to figure out my own vision which was the softness of the petals and the curved lines, and the beautiful pink colours.

While I'm not certain these are an improvement over the originals I'm sharing for learning purposes. This time around I did not sharpen the images in ACR because it seemed to make some of the edges of the petals too sharp. Instead I applied an un-sharp mask to just the downsized image and erased that mask from everything except some of the edges and texture.

I also didn't darken the highlights anywhere in the image except where there was some detail. I cropped to remove bits of sky and make the images less centered. I also tried flipping many of the images but most of them looked strange flipped/portrait orientation.

1. Flipped



2.



*Cropped and I also cloned a small patch of pink over the bit of sky peaking out... **Smudge tool used on the hard line of the petal that wasn't sharpened. ** Interesting tool!

3. (originally #5)

The original wasn't cropped so alas no more petal to include on the right hand side, so I cropped it further.



Thank you.

[emyp2enz3cai]

it is a good shot i like it