Budding

[ShaneS]

This shot was captured last weekend just before the rock broke my 18-55mm and represents a style that I have been working on as of late. I love a good garden and flower image as much as the next person but I find that a lot of what I capture is very documentary in nature so I have been making a point of trying to chase/capture the light and working on more creative/artistic compositions.

I love the texture in this shot and do like the out of focus bits. I felt like a closer crop brought me back to a more documentary shot and lost some of the atmosphere. What do you think?



Any and all comments welcome.

[terrib]

I, too, love the texture and the light in the photo. I hesitate to suggest a different crop because, other than those suggestions that would follow "the rules", it is a purely artistic decision. No rules here, but I'm not finding anything on the left to add to the photo so I want to crop at least to the point where the left side of the leaf hits the upper corner but maybe even over to where the corner hits somewhere between the leaf edge and the highlighted area on the left side.

But again, the texture, color, and light are beautiful. Well seen.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, nice concept.

[ShaneS]

Thank you Terri and John. I tend to stick with standard crop ratios and given the constraints on my framing this was the best I could come up with. I wonder if others stick with standard ratios or do what is best for the image at hand?

[Mike Buckley]

I like everything about it!

A rock broke your lens? How? Did I miss a previous thread?

[ShaneS]

I have missed so much around here lately that I feel bad even posting for C&C Mike...but yes, a rock broke my lens...I had nothing to do with it

I asked for advice on a new lens here 18-55mm Nikon Replacement?

Thank you for your kind words on this shot, I just processed one of the last photos with the lens today and I will now go over and add it to the thread...

[FootLoose]

Shane, I have looked at this image a few times this afternoon. I like the processing very much, but I am just a bit undecided about the highlight on the main leaf. It seems to me that the brightness there might be killing some of the texture. Otherwise, good subject.

[ShaneS]

Thanks for taking the time to give this some thought Greg. I toned down the highlights on this quite a bit in NIK Viveza and I found that when I toned it down further the image lost its glow and became quite flat. It's worth another look though so thanks very much for pointing it out.

[IzzieK]

Texture looks good, Shane and the shine looks more silvery than the gold that my head is telling me.

[Shadowman]

Thank you Terri and John. I tend to stick with standard crop ratios and given the constraints on my framing this was the best I could come up with. I wonder if others stick with standard ratios or do what is best for the image at hand?

Which ratio I use depends on the camera in use, for my mirrorless 20mm lens I use 16:9 almost exclusively, for the DSLR I use standard ratio and will sometimes crop as I see fit.

[ShaneS]

Here is another shot from the garden with the now broken lens. Again working on my processing and composition primarily...but your thoughts on other aspects are also welcome



The spiral made by the frond caught my eye and I really like the pinwheel effect. This was shot in full daylight but I opted for a darker presentation which is quite new to me.

John, thank you for sharing your cropping practices. I think that I'm going to start a new thread on this to see if anyone wants to have a dedicated discussion...

[Mike Buckley]

I don't like the last one as much because of the shadow. However, I reviewed a photo earlier today that has a similarly strong shadow and also didn't like it for the same reason. The photo is important enough that it is included in a book about the history of photography written by John Szarkowski, perhaps the most famous photography curator of all time. So, you might want to consider ignoring my thoughts about the shadow.

[ShaneS]

So sorry for the delayed response Mike. I can respect you thoughts about the shadow in the second image. This image and other botanical shots of late are an exploration for me in terms of style and processing.

Thank you for taking the time to comment!