Marooned Columbine

Brian:

Good first post. The exposure for the white is spot on and the rocks do provide a nice backdrop. I have some suggestions for your consideration; I wish for a little more room along the left edge as the flowers are leaning in that direction. The petal of the partial bloom is almost touching that edge. Might even consider cropping some off the bottom too. I would also do some environmental tidying and remove the of the fallen white petals off the leaves as this looks a little distracting.

BTW, Welcome to Flora. You will find a bunch of great guys here who are always willing to help.

Welcome, Brian! A lovely environmental portrait. Really nice first post.

Excellent image of these pretty columbine.

Welcome to NPN. Nice first post. I think Gary has a couple of good comments.

Wonderfully composed and captured first post Brian. I agree with what Gary suggested, but a great natural portrait. Welcome to floral, and hope to see much more.
Bob

Welcome to the gallery Brian.

I also like Gary's suggestions for this. I think most of us tend to view flowers the same way we do birds or wildlife, so we tend to think of the blooms as facing a particular direction in the scene. In this case the blooms seem to face to the viewer's left. The convention is to put a little extra space in front of the blooms in the direction they're facing as you would something with eyes. (smile) So, the white petal nearly touching the frame seems particularly cramped. You can do whatever you want of course.

There's just not enough of the rock in the lower right corner to keep it there and it's a distraction for me. More of it would be fine I think or none.

I'm fine with the fallen petals but I also understand Gary's suggestion.

If you're intent was to emphasize the contrast between the rock and the blooms, you might consider shooting the rocks in sharp enough focus to highlight the detail and texture. There are conceptual contrasts here: soft/hard, light/heavy, animate/inanimate - but the textural contrast is missing.

These are all nits. It's a fine introduction to the gallery. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your images. I particularly like the mood of this one and that's really my first criterion in determining whether or not I like an image.

Again, welcome to the gallery.

pat

It's a beautiful shot of the Columbine! I like the subtle contrast between the white and blue petals. Your processing choices make this a very gentle portrait. My personal nit is the softness in the center blossom at the back of the clump. I'd like to see that one as sharp as it's neighbors, but that's a style choice.

Hi Brian, A well-composed and very delicate clump of Columbines. I like your play of words in your title

I can't tell because I'm using a new monitor, but the Columbines look over-exposed. It might be the Smart Glow action. No idea what's causing it. When I first looked at the image without reading your comments, I thought of using Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Painting and/or masks to darken the rock.

And, it may just be my monitor.

Nice capture.

Regards,

Carol

Hi Brian welcome to flora..... Considering this was done outdoors, its a fine first post. if some of the petals are light purple, perhaps Carol., is correct, and the image is overexposed. did you used spot metreing for the flower or matrix.? I use spot metering for flowers. Thanks for sharing these beautiful columbines with us.
Albert Darmo
Canada

A classic Columbine shot. Excellent handling of the delicate blues.

Wow, thanks everyone. I appreciate all of the feedback!!

I too wish for a little more breathing room on the left, and I would crop the tiny rock in the LRC. The blooms themselves seem a little bright for my taste, but that could just be me because I seem to lean toward a little darker toning sometimes. I do like your composition choice with the blooms against the rough rock. I've wanted to shoot that combo myself but haven't found any good candidates yet! Oh, and I like the title as well.

Lovely shot Brain very well composed!!