Old Botanical

First in a projected (God help me) series. Vignette is probably

too heavy here, but I'm experimenting.

Nice bouquet, colors and lighting!.....Warm regards.

Les, the title of this caught my eye because I am thinking of trying something perhaps similar. If I do, I will try for as much DOF as possible to give the effect of a hand drawn botanical image. And I think the flower stalks need to be perfectly arranged in the way an artist is free to do. The out of focus effect and the way the flower stalk in the front is directly in front of the center one is not ideal for the effect you want. I hope you don't mind these suggestions. I make them becausee I am very interested in the idea myself. I look forward to seeing more of your work. Keep at it. Warm regards, Adrienne

The lighting is gorgeous!

Great critique--thank you.

I agree with Adrienne - the DOF in this one is hurting the overall effect and drawing your attention away from the purple flowers, that are nicely lighted.  You could blur the bottom part selectively and force the viewer to focus in on the center and that might work.  This would be a great image to take to the extreme PS has to offer and do a paint effect or other "artistic" effects on it.

I too like the lighting effect. Is it a result of the vignetting?

Yes, the effect comes from hitting this hard (too hard) with the post-crop vignette in Lightroom 2.

Les, I was quite amazed to see my name mentioned (by you) in one of the forums (which I rarely read) in a very nice way. Thanks. I am teacher; I am used to critiquing others work - usually their bad English, but it can be a problem. I have realized that photonet is a little society, and you get in it exactly what you get in the world outside. I find it endlessly interesting. How are you getting on with the project? I have been thinking about my own version of it. I wonder about picking leaves and flowers and arranging them as if they were pressed and making an image, among other variations. Often when I am taking plant images I cut annoying leaves etc. off. They are are usually only annual weeds anyway.  I'll let you know if I ever come up with some samples. Take care. Adrienne

Les,

Great image with wonderful lighting. Take care, Patsy