Can anything be done with these?

**FrankMi** · 19th August 2011, 02:09 PM

I was in Alaska in September of 2008. In this land of ice and snow, in the middle of the city of Anchorage, along many of the sidewalks in the city I saw the following. The colors and diversity of the flowers was amazing, unlike what I have seen in any other city I've had a chance to visit.

I am at a loss as to how to turn these 'snapshots' into beautiful prints.

I look for a definitive subject and don't see one, but rather many.

I look for leading lines for the eye to follow and there aren't any.

In most cases I can't determine if and/or where to crop.

How would you apply a 'rule of thirds' to a field of flowers?

I love the images but I have no clue as to what composition rule(s) to apply. Are there any composition guidelines for images like these?

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

Image #4

Image #5

Image #6

Image #7

Image #8

Image #9

Image #10

Any and all suggestions are warmly welcomed. Thank you for looking!

**ktuli** · 19th August 2011, 03:09 PM

Frank,

At work, so I can't really do any edits, but I flipped through these, and thought that you could make a 3 frame set consisting of #1, #6, and #8. For #1, you would want to crop from the top left corner and eliminate the one red rose as it doesn't fit in well. For #6 and #8, just look to eliminate any portions of the shot that don't fill with the flowers - for #6 I'd aim for top/middle to eliminate the dark patches on the bottom sides, and #8 top/right.

Basically what struck me with these three photos is not any kind of composition "rules" but rather the dichotomy between the repeating patterns in the chaos of nature. The shots contain plenty of repeating patterns, yet also contain a large element of chaos to them. The variety of patterns in the leaves, flowers, and colors would compliment each other nicely in a 3 image framed set - either as a single frame with 3 mat windows, or 3 separate frames.

Hope this helps.

- Bill

**FrankMi** · 20th August 2011, 01:42 AM

Originally Posted by ktuli

Frank,

At work, so I can't really do any edits, but I flipped through these, and thought that you could make a 3 frame set consisting of #1, #6, and #8. For #1, you would want to crop from the top left corner and eliminate the one red rose as it doesn't fit in well. For #6 and #8, just look to eliminate any portions of the shot that don't fill with the flowers - for #6 I'd aim for top/middle to eliminate the dark patches on the bottom sides, and #8 top/right.

Basically what struck me with these three photos is not any kind of composition "rules" but rather the dichotomy between the repeating patterns in the chaos of nature. The shots contain plenty of repeating patterns, yet also contain a large element of chaos to them. The variety of patterns in the leaves, flowers, and colors would compliment each other nicely in a 3 image framed set - either as a single frame with 3 mat windows, or 3 separate frames.

Hope this helps.

- Bill

Hi Bill. I 'think' I understand what you mean by a 3 frame set. I envision a panorama consisting of three photos with frames like a three pane window?

I don't think I understand a 'dichotomy between the repeating patterns in the chaos of nature', but I suspect that it has something to do with art, which I am only vaguely familiar with. I never did understand Van Gogh! LOL!

I'm guessing that you are saying that there are no real rules for images like this and it is something you either 'feel' or don't.

**KeithH** · 20th August 2011, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by FrankMi

I was in Alaska in September of 2008. In this land of ice and snow, in the middle of the city of Anchorage, along many of the sidewalks in the city I saw the following. The colors and diversity of the flowers was amazing, unlike what I have seen in any other city I've had a chance to visit.

I am at a loss as to how to turn these 'snapshots' into beautiful prints.

I look for a definitive subject and don't see one, but rather many.

I look for leading lines for the eye to follow and there aren't any.

In most cases I can't determine if and/or where to crop.

How would you apply a 'rule of thirds' to a field of flowers?

I love the images but I have no clue as to what composition rule(s) to apply. Are there any composition guidelines for images like these?

Any and all suggestions are warmly welcomed. Thank you for looking!

Frank

In my opinion you are bogging yourself down in with rules. This is a cracking series of shots and, while they may not follow the 'rules', they come straight from your heart - so go along with it. Take each shot and look at it. If you think a crop is needed then do it; if it needs a tough more PP then do that as well and when you've finished put it to one side and do the next shot, and so on. When you have done them all put them away and don't look at them for a few days. When you come back I'm sure you be be surprised and have a clear idea of how you want to finally present these shots.

Keith

**Dave Humphries** · 20th August 2011, 11:01 AM

Hi Frank,

I think Keith may well have a point, they are mostly good shots (a few look overexposed enough to have blown a colour channel), but here's another thought.

I often find that this kind of subject doesn't work for me either.

When you're there; you're usually struck by the size of the flower beds and vista presented, but in mid shots like this, we can't see that, we're too close.
Also when you're there; you usually look closly at the detail of some blooms, but in mid shots like this, we can't see that, we're too far away.

Oh dear, have I depressed you, I hope not, but it is a thought for the future perhaps

It is interesting Bill picks 1, 6 and 8 for a tryptick (sp?) idea, as I see those very same as the weakest stand alone shots for composition. In all the others, I can see where you have tried, and succeeded, to be creative compositionally and these would respond to some subtle PP and presentation in a much large size, at the moment, they are just too small as seen here at 640px across.

Cheers,

**JohnC** · 20th August 2011, 12:22 PM

It's a festival of colour,Frank.Why would you be looking for anything else ? You don't need rule adherence to be tempting you to edit to make these anything but what they already are - a cracking set of colour-vibrant photos. I really like photo. 3 and what makes it for me is that purple plant in the front. In case you think I haven't looked critically atall the only one I'd think Mmmm. about (very technical analysis.. lol) is number 8- barely any detail,my eye/brain has a job taking it in but I'd be delighted to have the opportunity to have such a variety of colour infront of me and if it makes you feel any better then, as Dave points out, maybe next time such an opportunity presents itself go for a couple of close-ups as well but don't go beating yourself up (like I do Lol).

Ok.. Got to go..Football (soccer) time here...big Liverpool game.

**Kris V** · 20th August 2011, 12:49 PM

Hi Frank,
Here's what did a while back with a set of photos that I liked, but didn't want to frame individually.
Bought the largest poster frame I could find, with the purpose of making a collage of some of these pictures.
Went to Office Max and bought letter paper that had a little structure in it - off-white.
Drew grids on the posterboard the fit together the collage of my chosen pictures (That's the tedious part btw, since the were not all the same size - a bit like a jig-saw puzzele).
Once I had the grid ready, I marked each section with the name of the photo that was going to be placed in the grid.
Printed the lot and glued them on the backing of the board, each picture in its' dedicated place.
Put the frame back together and took it to my office, to hang on the wall for the world to see.
It was time consuming, but kinda fun to do.

**FrankMi** · 20th August 2011, 01:34 PM

Thank you Keith, Dave and John for the words of encouragement. I guess I'm too focused at trying to learn photography to sit back, relax, and enjoy the view. This is new territory for me. As I love to explore new things, I'll take your advice and rework the SOOC images as best I can and repost some of them here at normal size. Who knows, perhaps I'll learn a new aspect of photography that doesn't follow the rules! Van Gogh, move over. I'm jumping into the pool!

**FrankMi** · 20th August 2011, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by Kris V

Bought the largest poster frame I could find, with the purpose of making a collage of some of these pictures.

Now that sounds like fun, Kris! It probably wouldn't work well on the monitor but on the wall of my office, it has some very interesting possibilities. Thank you for the idea!

**Kris V** · 20th August 2011, 03:13 PM

BTW Frank, I forgot to mention that those flowers are gorgeous. My favs are 3, 4, & 5.
I'm partial to orange

**Sabemajeen** · 22nd August 2011, 04:17 AM

Frank...
You have a wonderful selection of flowers in your garden

**FrankMi** · 22nd August 2011, 06:09 PM

Hi Sabe, unfortunately, I can't take the credit for these. I saw them in Anchorage, Alaska and loved the diversity of color. I'm glad you like them. I'm working on making them a bit more presentable and will be posting the changes, hopefully it'll be an improvement! LOL!

**FrankMi** · 22nd August 2011, 06:37 PM

OK, trying to learn about, as Bill puts it 'dichotomy between the repeating patterns in the chaos of nature'.

With my limited knowledge and ideas provided by the kind folks that have posted comments and suggestions to this thread, here are the changed images. Am I moving in the right direction? Going far enough? or perhaps too far?

Image # 1