Ants

As you requested me to, I have gone through your folders and picked this photo as an illustration of something that you have done several times which might be avoided and thus help your photography.

There are two ants here, but one really has to look at the photo to discover both 'subjects'

When taking photos on a bright sunny day, shadows have to be considered, and here the shadow on the bud's underside and from the underside help conceal the second ant and the blob of shadow merges with the frontmost ant.

Better to take this photo on an overcast day, day with fog or at a different time of day, I think.

What do you think?

Sometimes strong shadows and highlights can be effective in creating a composition or even helping a subject 'pop' from the background (see for instance in my portfolio, a photo of a woman in a wedding dress, covered in white makeup, taken in Munich, Germany - she was in front of large, baroque (overly decorated) Renaissance buildings, but the buildings were in such shadow, the building detail just disappeared into blackness -- helping isolate the subject.

You might also take a look through the gallery of photos I have selected as my 'highest rated' photos. Featured Critic Stuart Severson has linked that to his own bio page along with the 'highest rated' pages of several other photographers, as an example of how to find some of the best photos on Photo.net as seen through various photographers' eyes. I understand Stuart chose my 'highest rated' photos because I am strong on composition. (In early days I couldn't print or view my photos except on negatives or slides without a viewer, so I had to be able to 'see' composition and thus learned to compose 'large'.

(I'd retake this image -- you did ask).

John (Crosley)