First off, let me start by saying I need more images to critique, and questions to answer. I have a few more in each category, but I’ll be needing more soon. So, if you’re out there reading this, and need/would like to have one or more images critiqued, you can e-mail them to me (high resolution please, I’ll format them for the web) at toddwalkerphotography@gmail.com. I know many of you following this blog have questions. If you’ve noticed, I haven’t been putting names to the questions, so you don’t have to feel stupid, like you’re the only one out there who doesn’t know – even though you aren’t. So e-mail your questions, no matter how “dumb” or insignificant they may be. Okay? Okay. Now on to the image critique.
This week’s image comes to us again from Stacy. Its her second to be put up for discussion. The image is a detail shot of a flower with water drops on the petals. Now I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a macro/flower/pretty-shapes-made-with-water-drops expert. I'm a portrait photographer. However, I do have an eye for beauty and I know what I like. And I like this shot, and have a few things to say. BUT, on any shot like this, I’ll always defer to you nature photographers out there. If that’s you, please post your thoughts in the comments section below.
First thing I like is the tight composition. This helps to accentuate the drops of water all over the frame. Its busy, but in a good way. It has good contrast which make it a striking image. There’s good specular highlights on the water drops; good texture to the petals; and the black background was a good choice. Though, I’d be interested to see this same shot on a white bg. Scratch that, I just swapped the bg in PS and it’s not nearly as nice white as it is black. So nice choice. Overall a very nicely done image.
Here’s a couple of things I’d like to point out. Not necessarily negatives, but some things to help us think a bit. This type of subject is suitable for selective focusing. Though I think the deep depth of focus works well, you could also use a very shallow depth of focus and highlight say, one petal, or one row or droplets. You can do this of course by opening up your aperture to say f/3.5 or f/2.8 or larger.
Another thing that you could do is limit the amount of water droplets. If you had say even only one large drop, it would draw the eye to one focal point. This would create a completely different image, the drop itself would become the main subject, and the flower merely environmental.
Again, these are merely pointed out for thinking and discussion. The image as is, is great. Keep up the good work Stacy!
Now, go out and shoot something!
Alright, as a romanticism minded nature photographer, I will toss in my two cents.
ReplyDeleteWhen doing macro photography it is absolutely vital that we create an emphasis on a certain part of the image. Having the main subject just slightly out of focus, especially with such shallow depth of field, can completely ruin the image.
With this image, I am not sure what the focus is. Is it the droplets or the flower? If the center of the image is the main focus then that particular center petal needs to have more light falling on it. As is, the droplets are just falling into darkness and it's just a bit too harsh in comparison to the petal behind it which has a nice even tone and lit drops whose highlights serve as a great contrast against the grey.
I am very fond of those small rising petals in the upper right hand corner. They really have some great depth to them.