the prettiest of 'em all

We had a surprisingly nice day in chicago last weekend and I decided

to take my digital rebel to the botanical garden. The roses have

started blooming and this pic called to me. All comments welcome.

This is quite nice. Good choice of depth, and I like the curve of roses into the background.

Ramnath, This is nicely photographed but IMHO you are showing too much.
I would be inclined to crop the left side up close to the rose.
My reason for saying that is, the subject is a rose and the surrounding leaves. The background really is of no interest.

May I suggest the following as a guide:-A good photographer selects a THEME and FOCUSSES attention on the THEME then SIMPLIFIES leaving out all extraneous matter.

Nick,

 

cropping the left results in a rather static, centralized composition, and one which is far more common. The photograph, as it is now, has flow from the stem of the subject rose curving up to the top left corner. This is also the first rose to come out, or so we are led to believe vis-a-vis the background.

 

I agee with your reasoning, it's just "Theme" has no bearing on whether there's background or not. Think of environmental portraits; they tend to be rooted in context. It really all comes down to how you define "extraneous matter."

 

cheers,

Aaron

The photo would have been more effective had it been a little sharper, but good work on the depth of field.