flowers In the Garden 7

Your composition is exquisite:  foreground plants radiating out from a corner (and further grounded by a rock), two interesting round flower heads perfectly placed to take up otherwise empty space, a nice backdrop of dark green/red leafy plants (sorry, I'm a zoologist and not a botanist), and finally a background of trees that are OOF and therefore not taking away from the concentration on the garden plants.  Great care was taken, and it really paid off in the form of a wonderful photograph.

Eye immediately goes to the  green long foliage in the FG   and then to spherical flower head and the wider leaves of different green and a hue. All looks great till you reach the top and extra bright sky distracts very aggressively.

Looked at you 2 posts, in the garden and in the garden-2. Both are better pictures as there is no bright sky. I would consider cropping the top. Alternatively taking it from a higher angle and not including the Sky at all. Regards, ifti.

Regards(Bobby).

I agree with STtephen, exquisite!  This is a lovely shot Linda.  You chose just the right POV, great detail and great editing.  Congrats, Gail

Wonderful contrasts of colors and lights. Very well observed, captured and edited. BR / Volker

Iftikhar makes an interesting point, and I would usually agree regarding a bright, white sky drawing the eye away and being a significant distraction.  However, I don't find that to be the case here.  I think the reason is that the greens are so strong, have such striking forms, and take up so much of the frame that they just don't allow my eye to be drawn away.  The sky can't be cropped without lopping off one of the big-leaved plants (oh, I feel so ignorant for not being able to name it), and that would be very bad.  Fortunately, IMO the sky is not a distraction and the top doesn't need to be cropped at all.

Thank you all for taking the time to comment.

When I shot this and then cropped it, I was focused on the fan of the blades of ?? (I'm not sure what they are either!), and how they fan out catching the long beams of late afternoon light. I wasn't paying attention to the sky. Looking at now after reading Ifikar's comment I think maybe it is a little bright. What I think I will try is cloning a bit of the background shrubs and trees in the white spots just to see how it looks. I also made a mistake of not reducing this to a size that can be seen with one single glance. It is hard to really judge when you have to scroll up and down. I have complained to other members about doing this. Sigh.

Warm wishes,

Linda

Beautiful work with very nice colours and lighting, Linda!

Linda,

   Beautiful image with wonderful composition & lighting. Take care, Patsy

But there's no earth without sky.  My eye moves around the photo like a flittering bird and then escapes up into that blank sunlit area.  And I'm gone.  I like the idea of building in some freedom.  Even God gave his creation a choice between staying in the garden and moving out into the blank unknown. 

Coming back to earth, I don't mind the sky at all.

Interesting composition. I like how you work out background. It remind water coloring, and some how it bring forward front area. Well done!

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Jeff, you are so eloquent!

exquisite rendering... a crop and pov manifesting the exuberance of nature with the upthrust of the multi-hued growth... lovely work, Linda!

I'd love to read this as Jeff has. I think he's got a great idea and the potential was here for that sense of freedom he is talking about. But I don't think it's technically realized. The visual feel of the sky just won't allow me to go where Jeff has gone, even though I love the thought of it. So, I think perhaps the same angle and cropping with an exposure that was meant for the sky to have such possibilities might just do the trick. Exposure is always a trade off, and some of the deeper shadowed areas would be a little trickier to work with but I actually don't think you would have lost much that you couldn't have regained in the darker areas. The light on the blades might even have more presence with darker darks in the foreground. And then the opening sky might have seemed more like the inviting liberation Jeff is talking about.

Thank you for that. It was the multi layers in this garden that I found so appealing.

Thank you. You always give me something to think about, and that is so helpful. I appreciate it.

I wanted to go back to reshoot this series, but the weather hasn't co-operated, we have had downpours the past two weekends. Now I think it is past it's fall glory. I am going to work on this in Photoshop and see if I can improve the look of the sky.

I am experimenting and learning how to use my new camera. There is a lot for my slow old brain to absorb. This camera has an auto bracketing setting that I have tried. It is supposed to give me three exposures that are 2 f-stops apart, with one shot. It's for HDR, but I thought  even if I didn't use it for that I should get three exposures that I could layer and adjust myself. I just get 1 half decent exposure and two blank frames, one dark and one light. I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'll have to go to the EOS forum for advice on this.

Thanks again.

I hate just saying "Beautiful Shot"  but I will do it since everything I could or wanted to say has already been said. OOps - I just thought of something:

Q. What is the major attraction for me?

A. The green blades, the rock and the purple flower

Q. Can I solve the sky problem and focus on my center of attraction?

A. Yes I can - by a crop  while focusing on the elements that attracted me.

Too analytical? Sometimes you have to go with a feeling and that usually produces a different solution and better results.