Nature abstract #1

beautiful lots of energy, very unusual "still life"

An extreme (2:1) close up with deliberately shallow DOF. I wasn't

interested in realism, but in feelings - making the flower appear more

fragile, more poetic.

look at the range of scores . . some people understand, some don't. Maybe being a Freeman Patterson fan helps.

 

This works for me. The sharp leaf is important. the neutral background is good . . many flower shots on this list suffer from not understanding this. I would crop off the left so the distance from the tip of the sharp leaf to the top and left edges is the same. I'll wait to rate it.

Philippe, I like this photograph. I feel you achieved your intension.

 

The palette is wonderful, and the lone leaf in focus is catching - almost makes time look frozen. Reminds me of a David Lynch film.

 

I'd love for you to show us the original -- Carl is getting at something -- so many times just a subtle difference in cropping can make all the difference.

Beautiful. Yes, the palette is superb and the shallow DOF is just right. I'm with Carl on the framing, although I find myself wishing there was both less on the left *and* more on the right & bottom.

I agree ... for my taste, it needs ever-so-slightly less on the left and oh-so-slightly more on the bottom and possibly the right.

 

I love the color pallette -- I don't know if they're technically complementary with one another but to my eye, the color background is a perfect match for the colors of the subject -- and also the motion blur.

 

I've tried several times to create images such as this one and every time, I've failed dismally. Nicely done!

The original, quickly rescanned - it seems that I didn't crop much, finally. I'm not quite sure what recrop you have in mind - please download my pic and give it a try. Keep in mind that I've never been a big fan of the square format!

BTW, a friend of mine wanted to see more vivid colors; he considered this version as the strict minimum in terms of colors. I find it a bit too much, but what do you think?

Well, here's my take on it. I trimmed a bit off the left and cloned a bit more onto the bottom. As much as I like square-format images -- the majority of my photos are composed and shot as squares -- I don't think it would work well for this image.

It appears the colors picked up a bit of saturation somewhere along the way (probably a color space mismatch) but to my eye, this composition looks a bit better balanced, top to bottom and side to side. What say the rest of you?

I like it... Not exactly square, more like a 6x7. Maybe I could pretend I have a Pentax 67 instead of a Pentax Spotmatic? ;-)

Actually, the aspect ratio is closer to a 6x8 than a 6x7. If you ever get serious about this format, Fuji makes a nice (but also very heavy and costly) 6x8 SLR as well as a Japanese market-only 6x8 version of their "Texas Leica" 6x7 and 6x9 fixed-lens rangefinders. If your budget's anything like mine, though, then cropping will probably have to do for now...

 

You know, the more I look at this image, the more I think it will benefit from being printed LARGE. I can easily see a 45x60 print of it hanging over my fireplace as a replacement for the 48x60 photo-realistic painting of a clown fish that's presently there. :^)

So . . we hereby give you permission to submit the new improved crop. :-)

 

There are times when the 3/2 aspect ratio just doesn't work. I've tried to give myself permission to allow plenty of room in the shot knowing I can crop later. . . . this from a shooter whose primary goal is to capture a slide for slide competitions. Gepe makes mounts with different aspect ratios and they are permitted in most competitions. Previsualize.

 

Soothing...Nice soft edges to match the softness of the color. I also like the sense of movement created by DOF in the further pedals. My eye would like something a bit more defined/crisp? in the focus plane, including the orange veins of the blossom. Overall a very nice macro.

 

I love the softness, and the subtle colors. The shallow DOF is very effective. The blur especially on the edges looks to me like motion blur. (as if a slight breeze moved those outer petals diring the exposure.) I might suggest cropping a little from the left. I would just crop slightly...not too much. Overall, a very beautiful image that was executed quite nicely. Well done!

Well I think you achieved the effect you were looking for. The overall impression I get is more like a painting than a photograph. None of the attempted crops improve it for me. Nice work.

Like the colors, but not much for out of focus photos. I'd like to see the detail in this.

Like the blur caused by the movement. Not sure on the gray background, perhaps another color to bring out the flower more?

Ha! Great! gbs