Inspired by Ruth & Joe - I pulled myself away from work in the garden to grab some shots while the light was good and certain flowers are at peak.
Feedback is encouraged. All with at least one eye and opinion are qualified to critique, all I ask is that comments (good OR bad) are sincere, respectful and meant to help.
Edit 6/9/19
Following constructive feedback I have recreated the image with its actual (shaded) background. Do folks feel this is an improvement over the original?
Nice shot Alan.
Nice shot. Flowers are good subjects for minimalism.
I like the composition, sharpness and color. I think it would look nice printed on glossy paper.
I wonder if this would work on another background though, instead of black.
But yeah, I like it. This can be my wallpaper for my PC :)
Thanks Andres. I may try another background but I like the way it makes the flowers pop.
I appreciate your feedback.
Yeah, background can still be black, but maybe like it there is some sort of a background gradient of very soft light or something like that i think :)
For my self though, I may use a light pink background hehe :D
I really love this. The green leaves balance the droop of the flowers and black background just seems to focus the whole image.
Thanks for your kind words Sandra,
Hey Alan - Nice work! This feedback is personal preference as the shot works as is. Since you were kind enough to give me a nod, i just thought I'd pipe in with a little morning philosophy on this one! :)
When I do these i try and leave hints of detail and color in the background. Sometimes this works and sometimes it goes all to black. The reason behind it is more important though. I think when this type of image is done, there is a danger of it looking like a composite of a flower put on a black background. For me there is no depth or life in these flowers. They are perfectly taken in color, detail and exposure but they look like fake. The reasoning behind trying to shoot these while keeping some background is to try and maintain some DOF in the flower as it fades out to black. You may in fact not get anything but black background but you will get more out of the flowers. I guess what i am trying to say is that this looks like a cut flower in a studio. Nothing wrong with that! I would love to see you try and come up with the same image but have it undoubtably taken outside. That would breath life into these beautiful flowers.
Again, this might be just a style thing. As always, with best intentions and respect for your top notch work!
Thanks for your honest feedback Ruth - I'll certainly bear that in mind. This was indeed taken outdoors, but I wanted to isolate a distracting background to keep it clean and simple.
Hey Ruth, do you prefer the 2nd image with the original background?
I do. I might even brighten it up a little more. Looks like there is some nice bokeh there. That said, I do like the original post. I may have been overly critical. It wasn't that the background was flat black, it is that there are no shadows or subtleties on the flower and leaves. To me it is very flat. Having the background gives it some depth. But I think the best case would be the black background and some work on the flowers and leaves. Here is a quick play. But you got very positive feedback from everyone else so I'm guessing this one is just me!
Most importantly Alan is what you think! I am i interested in what you decide to do with this image.
I am going to sit on it for a while and revisit sometime in the future.
I have other angles of the image to work on and will be taking all suggestions into account as I make my final edits.
Thanks for the continued input.
Pro quality shot Alan. Sharpness spot on from end to end, good clear details. I like the crisp graphic look of this, and really enjoy that beautifully soft gradation of green from the leaves to the stem(?). I agree with Andres, would make a great wallpaper.
Agreed, very clean and commands attention.
“Commands attention” good term , Robert!
Thanks Robert!
Thanks for you kind critique Joe!