Venus

[FrankMi]

the Fly Trap God...

I'm having difficulty cropping this one as it has multiple points of interest. Any cropping or other suggestions?

[Geoff F]

I'm tempted to say, crop the right edge and top then with a little bit of cloning remove the flower pot rim.

[benm]

What appears to be a stick is in an awkward location. I would reshoot. I might also try to get closer.

[FrankMi]

Hi Geoff and Ben. Unfortunately, this subject is a two hour drive away so for the time being, I'm looking for cloning and cropping options until I can get back for a reshoot.

The 'stick' is a metal sign post but along with the edge of the pot rim, I could likely clone that out as well.

For the cropping and cloning, would I need to remove the smaller Fly Traps or is it better to leave them in?

[dan marchant]

I tried and I just can't see a crop that works for me. I tried straight down the middle (so that the flower/stem is parallel to the long edge) and I tried various rotations. The only thing I found that interested me was to crop off everything except the right hand edge (yes just the pot edge and some dirt and no plant at all). Unfortunately if I had taken it I would probably file it in my "nice try but...." file. It is a very interesting subject but (regardless of drive time) the photo needs to be closer or from a lower angle. Maybe a nice thin DOF from a low angle or a really close up shot of a dead fly and the jaws of a trap.

Admittedly I find it impossible to find many interesting shots when it comes to flowers/plants. I do keep trying because I think it is important to experiment and try things... but I just can't find my mojo when it comes to plants. Maybe I could get excited about a triffid caught in mid-sting but other than that ...

[FrankMi]

I certainly appreciate your trying, Dan. I'm also having difficulty finding a crop that works as well.

This was one of those times when I saw an interesting subject but had someone waiting impatiently for me to move on so I didn't take the time to visualize the final result. As a result, I didn't get a decent composition. Another lesson I 'thought' I had previously learned comes back to bite me!

[MrB]

I like the colours and star shape of the smaller one - so tried cropping that and cloned out the big one. Rough edit:



Philip

[FrankMi]

Thanks Philip! I hadn't considered just that portion of the image. I am now wishing that I used that as the subject!