Red Dahlia

Hi Mire,

You asked for honest critique, so I hope you will receive it well :)

First, the asepects of it that I lke are the strong contrasts in color and, on the left side, contrast of form. And the color of the center is indeed connected with that of the background.

There are also a few things I want to tell you which detract from what I take to be your intent. The background on the right has a very nice boheh, but that seems to be lost over on the left, wherein the background seems to be taking on more of the flower's form and thus fighting with it. Perhpas that was your intention, but it isn't working that well within my brain, I must say.

I notice the fact, even though it is a small point, that one of the petals about 1/3 the distance from left to right runs out of the frame of the image. Somehow that is bothersome to my eye. Perhaps with a much closer crop and parts running out of the edges all around it wouldn't be, but in that it is just this one, single, individual point, it becomes problematic, I find, when I check how my my individual mind is seeing it: This isn't a judgement; just a repor of fact.

Finally, while it is ordinarily supposed to be better to place an image off-center. I think this one is perhaps too little so placed; it is fighting with being centered or off-centered. I would think it would be received better by my eye were it exactly centered and were the bottom petal included wholly and were the background be more like the right on the left. So that is my feedback after observing how my mind saw it.

Now, all that having been said, it is lovely as it is and how you presented it. And I am much happier having seen it than I would have been had you decided not to post it. I hope you take my critique comments within that overall frame.

This generally works for me Miro. Would like to see a little more room at the bottom though.

Is this what they call a spider dahlia? It's spiky petals against the softer bg are startling. Beautiful color, too. a minor nit would be the one petal that is creeping out of the bottom of the frame. Otherwise, beautiful

Miro, the red dahlia works really well against the green bg, and the dahlia itself has great color and form. I agree with John's thoughtful critique regarding the overall comp and bg. Re the bg, the bright leaves are a bit distracting. This effect might have been controlled with the use of a polarizer (which I use probably 90% of the time in daylight flora images) and/or a diffuser.

Miro: The petal going out of the frame and some softness in the center do impact this for me. A touch more DOF seems appropriate. Beautiful subject though and overall this is very nice. >=))>

Hi Miro At F/6 you managed to keep most of the dahlia in focus.. in a perfect world, i would have used a neutral artifical BG. and shot at F/10 to get the whole Dahlia in focus. i love your composition, except the cut off petal. and the colors and form of the subject are marvelous
Albert Darmo

I like the colors Miro. I do find the viewer's left side a little distracting. Overall though the image works for me.

pat

Miro:
I basically agree with Bill, a bit more DOF and wish the petal is not clipped at the bottom. The bg on the right is very nice.

A little soft in focus on my monitor, but I really like the color combinations.