Beauty In The Past and Elegant in the Present

[selig1656]

P1000213 edited by Raymond Friedman, on Flickr

[xpatUSA]

I like the colors. Durn that leaftip!

[Manfred M]

Another very nice image here Raymond.

I agree with Ted on the tip of the leaf that goes out of the right hand side of the frame. That could do with a bit of cleanup.

I also find the image a bit too "hot", especially the top right background and the leaf itself. Burning those hot spots down a bit, I think would result in a stronger image.


I'd also position the point where the step of the leaf goes out of frame a bit differently and have it go out exactly in the corner.

[Wavelength]

I think you could have avoided including that much long leaf bearing stem so that the leaves remain fully within the frame. Another element of distraction is the bluish something seen behind the leaves, a mismatch to the colours of the subject.

[DanK]

Raymond,

A nice shot. However, I think some of the same issues apply here as with your shots of the girl on the deck.

I'm going to take a guess: do you shoot with glasses on? People who shoot with glasses on--as I did for almost 50 years--have difficulty seeing the entire frame. That unfortunately encourages people to focus just on the subject and not enough on the entire frame. And that can lead to including material that doesn't contribute and, less often, cropping too tightly.

Regardless of whether you use glasses, that seems to be the issue here. As Ted and Manfred pointed out, you lost the right hand end of the leaf. You also devoted 75% as much horizontal space to the stem as to the leaf. The stem isn't the main subject.

So if you don't mind the suggestion, I think you can improve your images by thinking more about the entire frame, not just the subject. You may sometimes see people holding their fingers up to make a rectangle for that purpose. Some people actually carry cardboard with rectangles cut out for this purpose. If you wear glasses, take a minute to look through the viewfinder without them, concentrating on all of the edges of the frame as well as the subject.

I was recently sent a gallery of photos an aspiring photographer took of a large family gathering. Some of the shots were very good. However, in many cases, he clearly didn't pay attention to the frame as a whole. In some cases, he had wasted and distracting space on one edge. That's easily fixed by cropping. In other cases, he cut things off where he shouldn't, which often can't be fixed.

I hope this helps.

Dan

[Manfred M]

Well said Dan. Certain cameras seem to work better than others when it comes to see the scene through the viewfinder. Larger is better; when I review my cameras, the micro four-thirds has the smallest viewfinder, then comes the APS-C and with the full frame is best. Not all full-frame cameras are created equal - my ancient Leica R3 SLR gives a better view than my more recent Nikon D810. Frankly one of the more minor reasons I went to a full-frame camera is the larger viewfinder.

Raymond - one trick I learned years ago was to run my eye all around the edges of the viewfinder, before pressing the shutter release. That way I would pick up issues like the edge of the leaf sticking out past the edge of the frame or the issue of where the stem of the leaf crossed the frame. That being said, this technique works even better when using a tripod as one can be sure you haven't move the camera while checking the image boundary. If you are unsure of the crop, go a bit wider than necessary as it is easier to remove a bit of the image in post than going back and trying to rebuild the image in post. This is the best way to avoid what Dan describes in his last paragraph.

The other common issue is the one that Dan has identified. We tend to look at the subject when framing up the image and not see the background. Getting that right comes with practice and awareness. Shoot more and pay attention to how the image came out.

[xpatUSA]

Well said Dan. Certain cameras seem to work better than others when it comes to see the scene through the viewfinder. Larger is better; when I review my cameras, the micro four-thirds has the smallest viewfinder, then comes the APS-C and with the full frame is best. Not all full-frame cameras are created equal - my ancient Leica R3 SLR gives a better view than my more recent Nikon D810. Frankly one of the more minor reasons I went to a full-frame camera is the larger viewfinder.

Somewhat off-topic, but Sigma's first DSLR (1.7 crop) SD9 used the viewfinder straight from their 35mm SA-9 film camera. Then they grayed an area around the outside and called it a "Sports" finder because one could still see outside the crop frame. Cheap trick, I thought but convenient because I use a 1.34X magnifier on it.

[selig1656]

Thank you and yes will re-edit this .

[Manfred M]

Another element of distraction is the bluish something seen behind the leaves, a mismatch to the colours of the subject.

I don't quite agree where Nandakumar - the bit of blue complements the orange and having it in the frame works for me. Having complementary colours is generally a desirable approach, so long as the colour contrast is not causing any distractions.

[xpatUSA]

Originally Posted by Wavelength Another element of distraction is the bluish something seen behind the leaves, a mismatch to the colours of the subject.

I don't quite agree [with] Nandakumar - the bit of blue complements the orange and having it in the frame works for me. Having complementary colours is generally a desirable approach, so long as the colour contrast is not causing any distractions.

For that scene I tend to side with Nandakumar in that the opposite color draws my eye and I would likely change it to an adjacent color so as to keep the background rendering more homogenous.

I'm not against opposite colors. They do serve well for example as monochromatic backgrounds to bring out a main subject. Remember those yellowish Christmas mice against that yellowish background?

[selig1656]

Thanks and I will revisit capture.