Fire Hydrant

The colors in this photo are excellent. I would have liked to have seen the background with a little more blur, but the stark colors of the tulips and that wonderful blue fire hydrant do a pretty good job of standing out by themselves. Perhaps if you put the hydrant a little more off center than it is....just a thought.

I took this some time ago trying to get something different at the

local arboreatum.

 

The scan gives it the hazy look, the print is much better. My main

question is about the flowers in the front. I intentionaly blured

them to bring focus on the fire hydrant, but that is starting to bug

me now. What do you think?

Pity about the scan. Good sense of humour (if that is what was intended). Yellow tulip in front of the hydrant looks a little too bright. I find the white/light brown gap in the hedge takes my attention. I like the way the colours/tulips add interest to this composition. I like the differing shades of green in the hedge at the rear and in the tulips at the front. I think the tulips add depth to the image. I like that!

Hi -- I agree with John... and you :) I think that the subject could be very nice if blended with the flowers and offset a bit to move that first yellow tulip. I does look a tad like the hydrant is smelling the flower :)

 

Blessings, Pam

Yep, background blur would do it for me, combined with 'full face' on the hydrant, by that I mean seeing the full disk at the front (or more of it). Love the colours and sense of fun about this, I bet you enjoyed doing these shots (I bet there were more).

I have a very similer picture with just flowers in it.

 

I like yours as the fire plug adds color and a bit of a joke.... it's growing in there with the tulips. I like the DOF as it gives three dimensions to the picture.

I like the idea and the colours, but it isn't quite there for me. Some of the flowers are too close to the camera and are bugging my eyes. Also, I agree with the one that said the colours need to be brighter, because this is very much about the colours.

 

What I'd like to see is back off a tad so the flowers aren't right in our face, pump up the colours, and make the background a bit blurrier since it doesn't contribute anything. Also, if you could get an angle that shows more of the hyrdant, that would be good. It seems to me like the "king" of the flowers, standing over them, and should be more prominent.

 

If possible, I would suggest something before I get to the actual critique of this image. And that would be to go in PS to Image> Adjust> Levels, and move the left slider to the right - basically darkening your shadow levels. There is also too much magenta in the image - both problems can be seen very clearly if you look at the blacks in the bushes. Once this adjustment will be done, we will have a chance to really appreciate the shot itself. Regards.

as marc suggests the levels could be tweaked a little. and blurring the b.g. would help. wouldn't mind seeing one with the tulips in focus and the hydrant blurred. but the flowers could do with more diffused light. we don't always carry a 4X4 diffuser around with us but for flowers it works nicely when the sun is so strong. if you do a lot of these it might be a worthwhile investment.