Dogwood Blossoms (Redbrook1-4565)

Questions: Are the blossoms in the background still too distracting

after I've darkened them? (Not to me.) Do you think they should be

cropped? (I don't. this is full frame-I think it looks good, giving

the image more depth than if they were cut off). Are the black and

white tones looking good on your monitor? (they look fantastic on

mine.) Is the range of focus effective, with the foreground sharp and

the background increasingly soft? (A little more sharpness on the back

edge of the main blossom wouldn't hurt, but I can live with this) Do

you think it would be better in color? (I don't.) Thanks for your

time.

Yes they are. The upper part has partial flowers and I would crop them out and and will clone out any left over white on the right.

Are the blossoms in the background still too distracting after I've darkened them? (Not to me.)

The 2nd is great but i would crop the last out.

 

Do you think they should be cropped? (I don't. this is full frame-I think it looks good, giving the image more depth than if they were cut off).

See above

 

Are the black and white tones looking good on your monitor? (they look fantastic on mine.)

Yep, better than the first, and with more detail.

 

Is the range of focus effective, with the foreground sharp and the background increasingly soft? (A little more sharpness on the back edge of the main blossom wouldn't hurt, but I can live with this)

Yep, I think this one works well.

 

Do you think it would be better in color? (I don't.)

Nope, particularly with those bits on the ends.

So many questions. I basically like the picture as is but I think it makes a stronger statement if it is just the 2 flowers (ssort of the shadow of ones self concept.) The DOF on the front flower doesn't bother me but I wish the second as a little more in focus - not a lot. The B&W is fine. Don't know if color would be better just a different picture. -- Charles

hmm, perhaps you two are right about the crop.

wups! I mean you 'three.' Charles' comment slipped in while I was typing.

Much better

Doug;

 

Didn't you mean us four ? OK so I was a bit late to the parade , but I do concur about the crop. The two blossoms give plenty of dof to the scene and the burning in on the final blossoms was a bit obvious. The B&W conversion looks real swell with loads of depth to the tones and nice texture and detail in the whites. The one little sunburned petal tip is a shame but such is the vagary of mother nature.

 

Now that you have lost that last row of blooms, have you given any consideration to cloning out that one petal near the back blossom ?

Oh yes, definitely. The picture included with my last comment was a hastily chopped jpg, but I've already rescrinted the full file to the square.

 

And it smarts to admit I was wrong with the crop as I stated in my critique request. Pride goeth before the fall....

Doug, even without the addditional work that you say you are doing, I think the new version(two flowers) is a much stronger picture. I tend to be a less is better person. Good job. -- Charles

Thanks Charles,

 

I abide by that policy, too...most of the time. Subconsciously, sometimes consciously, I resist changing the format (in this case 2x3). I should have known better with this one, instead of trying to justify holding to a principle that clearly wasn't working. My camera has a grid, but it would be nice to have a crop feature, or a change format feature, that would black out areas of the full frame so one could more easily visualize square crops, 3x4 formats, etc. Anything to save the photographer from actually thinking!