doug_cooper

I think what's throwing me here is not the fact that the edges are soft, but the fact that they look processed, not naturally occuring. There's a dark halow around the characters which is quite thick and feels unbelievable to me. Some softness to the edge is good, but this feels photoshoped. Reducing this radius significantly would help it be more believable to me.

 

All in all, I'm picking nits here - the image is striking, and caught my eye so that I wanted to comment on it, it's just this detail which is taking away some of the impact for me.

I love the silhouette composition, but the treatment (bleeding the shadows for example) makes it feel more theatrical, and less "real". I don't mind the hi-contrast, but the softening of the edges is what's throwing me.

This was naturally composed (it's not staged at all), but the color

has been balanced to imply a cool nighttime palette, whereas the

natural light was fairly warm (early morning). I appreciate any

comments, especially on the color.

Pregnancy as abstract form. What do you think?

Ditto on the bright reflection center bottom - but don't crop out what looks like a rock above it -- that's essential to the balance of the frame.

 

I like the tone and contrast, how the silhouetted figures are framed with a brighter area of light, but it would be nice to have a little detail back there -- was this compressed with color correction? The grays look really flat behind the characters.

Wow, this one really stopped me in my tracks. Dynamic composition, great color, and just a peek of expression -- I love it! A little sharpening wouldn't hurt though.

Lovely portrait - soft light, great pose. Wish I were so relaxed right now :) Thanks for sharing.

I appreciated your constructive comments!

That really is a magical moment, and well captured. Thanks for sharing!

Strong and dramatic composition - I love it. Excellent choice in depth of field as well.

Personally, I feel the subtle colors in the original really help the image, and I prefer the color version. Also, someone suggested cropping the upper portion of the frame with distant buildings, and I think that would be a shame. The buildings lend a real scale and context to the image.

 

Overall, this is a stunning piece, thanks for sharing!

Very fun, I love the texture and contrast. Perhaps it could be an abstract self-portrait, as I believe we can see you in the beads. That closes the loop between subject, photographer, and viewer :)

Well spotted and captured, you saw something original in an every-day object! The framing feels a little tight to me though, it would be nice if the image were a little more open around the subject. Still a great capture.

Hehe - that's an interesting observation. It's true they make an unnatural combination - due in this case, to the fact that they're part of a man made landscape in a neighbors yard :)

I agree with the eye catching thumbnail, and the lack of sharpness/focus for the full size image.

 

And although I think you've found a nice creative choice in what you reveal of this flower, the image would be stronger if you had selected a better specimen (for lack of a better word). The broken portion sof the flower, and some of the dark splotches under the "heart" are distracting from the overall statement of the photo.

I love the composition, though I might like a little more room above the flame. I don't think the light is bad for this, the soft top-light describes the form nicely. I do think you could enhance it a bit with some selective toning in photoshop to bring the subject out of the background more, or push the background back. Something subtle though. I also think the subject could use a little sharpening for a refinement, but these are all minor improvements to an otherwise eye catching image.

Great texture and light, but this might be more dramatic if rotated strongly, allowing the light to cut a diagonal through the frame.

Very eye catching, I love the choice of framing the church in the twisted fence, and the diagonal edge cutting the lower portion of the frame supports it nicely. I might be happy to lose the corner of the building in the lower right of frame though. This might also be interesting as a purely b/w image as well.

I've been exploring abstract shapes and colors in macro photography,

and the idea of embracing the extremely shallow depth of field instead

of fighting it. I'd love to hear your comments on this latest experiment.

Thanks for the comments Dave, I agree with your suggestions on composition - I actually cropped a little on the right because the element there was distracting -- but I couldn't really crop more without losing context, as I had nowhere to go on the left of the frame. If I had been watching that closer through the viewfinder, I could have recomposed and ended up with a better overall design.

 

As for the title - when I saw this image full size on my computer, the stamens of the flower gave me the impression of a grove of trees. The title popped into my head at that time, and the idea that a forest full of trees, with flowers on them, in turn having forests in each flower gave me little recursive chuckle, so I went with it.

 

PS - perusing your photos, I noticed you have shot with a Canon AE-1, that was also my camera before recently going digital, and I still have a great fondness for it.

Enjoy, and thank you for your comments and suggestions!

I'd love to see a suggested example - I have played with the crop quite a bit, and when I remove the parent, I find it loses context and starts feeling abstract, so I ended up leaving it as shot. I'd love to see someone else's take on framing this.

Comments and critiques appreciated!

Well seen and captured!

Thank you Christopher, you're too kind :)