Opuntia

I see a ton of different ideas here Lucy. As this is, to my untrained eye, this strikes me as a little too busy with no set point of interest. I might return to try some isolated berries. I really interesting plant for sure.

I like the color and detail in this a lot Lucy. Compositionally, my tastes tend towards more structure. You have patterns of circles and ellipses throughout the image but I don't really find any one place to rest my eye. So I agree with Bob.

I think this is the first time I've commented on one of your images, so welcome to the gallery. This is a neat subject and very interesting. I hope you'll post more in Flora.

pat

I love the colours and textures here, Lucy, and the lighting. Like others, I might prefer either a major feature to focus on, or a stronger sense of pattern if you want to avoid that. It's an appealing image in any case - hope to see more from you.

Lucy: Welcome to the finest Flora gallery on the planet and thanks for a fine first post here. This is close for me but I do see what the others have mentioned. I do see a slight cyan color cast and would counsel a little warming up. For me the most interesting part of the image is the lower 2/3 with the high concentration of buds. Simply cropping from the top about 1/3 of the way down makes this more compelling IMO. Nicely seen. >=))>

I find these "abstract" compositions to be the most challenging. When there really isn't a main point of interest and subsidiary elements it's hard to keep a viewer's eyes from roaming to rapidly. I agree with Bill that the lower part with all the buds is the strongest part. If you crop the top 1/4, you'll get a triangle of buds on the left side. That might help. What you've got here is a good idea and the processing looks fine.

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful feedback. I'll play with the suggestions, esp since there seems to be general agreement about the cropping. And yes, Bill, I did run a blue though not cyan filter on the leaves. They looked too yellow-green what with the bright sun. Likely could've ratcheted it down a tad.
Not sure, Mark, what you mean about "triangle of buds" on the left side. Might you clarify?


lucy

Lucy: Not sure if Mark will revisit this but I've drawn a rough outline of what I think he was talking about and also did a crop. As for the color cast this looks better on my monitor at home. I saw it the first time on my laptop. Keep 'em coming. >=))>

Thanks for taking the time Bill. I shoot a lot of leaves without flowers so tend to focus quite a bit on them. But yes I agree the crop here is better.

lucy