Crocosmia

Gallery: FloraPosted July 13, 2011134 views13 comments

Canon EOS REBEL T2i
EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
7/8/2011 – 3:19:25 PM
1/250 sec
Aperture priority
f/11
ISO 400
Focal length 250 mm
Handheld with arms propped on chair arms
Raw file processed in Photoshop Elements 9

This breaks rules and I don't know whether anything about it redeems that or not. It's centered and one stalk of blooms is right behind the other one. But I like the way the background came out, and the structure of these plants made it difficult (for me, anyway) to get an artistic image without having to clone other stalks out, which I didn't have to do here, and so this one seemed artistic and not documentary to me, but I could be totally wrong. All feedback on any of that or the processing or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on July 13, 2011 at 8:41 PM

This certainly has an artistic feel to me Barbara. I love the comp and the bg and colors are really nice. The blooms seem a little soft to me in places and I might have liked a little more sharpness but I wouldn't want to give up the bg either. A very fine image for my tastes.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on July 13, 2011 at 9:32 PM

Barbara, I like this very much. As you pointed out, the crossing blooms are a little unconventional, but this works anyway. The blooms are nicely separated from the outstanding BG, and the vivid red and green colors are beautiful together.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on July 14, 2011 at 3:46 AM

Barbara:
The bg is real sweet and makes the image for me. An alternative to cloning is to carry some strings to tie up unwanted branches and tuck them out of the way - certainly faster than cloning (as least for me).

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on July 14, 2011 at 7:11 AM

Rules are made to be broken Barbara. I like this as is, but as Pat said, maybe a little soft on the blooms. Well seen and captured.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Duval on July 14, 2011 at 8:32 AM

Barbara,

Actually I think intuitively you broke the rules here for great reasons. By having the other stalk behind it added mass and structure to the first. Just a single stalk would have been so willowy and insubstantial the background would have overwhelmed it. So that being said this was the best choice compositionally. Great color combination.

Paul

Registered on June 30, 2009, 508 Posts, 1907 Comments

Comment posted by Mohammad Hosseini on July 14, 2011 at 10:22 AM

Nice color combos and beautiful BG.

Registered on May 16, 2011, 15 Posts, 301 Comments

Comment posted by Derek Yow on July 14, 2011 at 1:35 PM

Paul's comment summed up exactly what I thought when I looked at this. You composed this in the best possible way to make the plant's structure work in your favor. Nicely done.

Registered on May 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 655 Comments

Comment posted by Krunal Janani on July 15, 2011 at 1:41 AM

Very nice feel this image has Barbara,
i wud have liked a bit more of sharpness in some places
all in all a fine image

Registered on September 16, 2010, 60 Posts, 1370 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on July 15, 2011 at 8:15 PM

I like the vibrant complimentary colors! Well done.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 15, 2011 at 10:35 PM

Hi Barbara

i think the rear stalk enhances the image.

Love this comp, with the super vibrant color

Albert Darmo

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on July 15, 2011 at 11:14 PM

I don't know how I missed this one, Barbara. It"s an eye-catching beauty. Lovely rich color, excellent and interesting structure, and your rule breaking was a perfect call. Wonderful image

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on July 16, 2011 at 11:47 AM

I like this one a lot Barbara. The crossing stems add an interesting element and that works especially well in the LRC I think. It looks like there might be some halo effect going on in the LRC but that may be just because the bg is lighter right there. I might crop a little off the left side but that's purely subjective.
As for the rules of composition I don't think all the rules apply to every image. Centering the subject can work very well in floral images IMO.
Overall, a very nice shot.

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on July 16, 2011 at 2:28 PM

Barbara: Certainly works for me. Wonderful subject and the color contrast with the BG is terrific. I do agree with Pat a bit regarding the softness of the blooms but I think you made a fine compromise there in order to retain the BG softness. I think this is a finely crafted image. 2 thumbs up! >=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments