Flowers & Plants Critique ⇒ Cascade

[Bob Yankle]

I suspect I will be spending a lot of time in this particular forum as I have always enjoyed my journeys to the Dark Side. As a young boy I used to draw with pen and ink, so it seems like a natural progression.

[Psjunkie]

Posting in this section you must be wanting critique which I'm not qualified to do so hope you won't mind just my opinions. I comment on what I notice viewing an image and sometimes pixel peep to find out what was catching my eye at NVD...I mention these things to try and be helpful not critical, I overlook a lot of things in my own stuff, I leave it to you to take what you find useful and discard what is not from my comments...you are the only one that knows what your after. I feel, not mentioning things noticed is a bit of a dis-service to the poster. Not that my opinions carry any weight anyway Bob....

and finally to the image..Nicely done...A couple of things....I feel some tension due to the tightness at the top and would like to see the three blurry blobs around buds in the back gone. Good tone in this one Bob.

[St3v3M]

My only 'problem' with this is the lighter than expected background against the striking white flower. It's not that it's bad, but more that it distracts.

I hope that helps! S-

[Charles Haacker]

I love it exactly as is. I would hope, had I made it, I'd make it look like this. (Shows ya how subjective this all is...)

[Bob Yankle]

My only 'problem' with this is the lighter than expected background against the striking white flower. It's not that it's bad, but more that it distracts.

I hope that helps! S-

Thanks for helping understand your point of view Steve. I suspect my "distraction" tolerance level is pretty high, because I don't necessarily see distracting elements as others see them. I have often felt I take a "wholelistic (sic)" approach. often including elements that were present at the time the image was taken. In this case, the background lent a bit of depth to the image, one which I embraced.

In a lot of my processing, I isolate the main subject completely, place it in its own layer, then work on a textured background layer copy separately. But lately, I find myself more and more turning down the opacity on the background copy layer to blend in a bit of the original background (in photoshop, the original image).

This is not to say I don't erase or clone out elements in my images. I just don't do it as heavily as some other folks might.

[St3v3M]

Thanks for helping understand your point of view Steve. I suspect my "distraction" tolerance level is pretty high, because I don't necessarily see distracting elements as others see them. I have often felt I take a "wholelistic (sic)" approach. often including elements that were present at the time the image was taken. In this case, the background lent a bit of depth to the image, one which I embraced.

In a lot of my processing, I isolate the main subject completely, place it in its own layer, then work on a textured background layer copy separately. But lately, I find myself more and more turning down the opacity on the background copy layer to blend in a bit of the original background (in photoshop, the original image).

This is not to say I don't erase or clone out elements in my images. I just don't do it as heavily as some other folks might.

I used to be more the purist than I am now so I completely understand about leaving it as it as. I appreciate that, and as an artist I expect the image to be yours through and through with all the makes you you, but I also wonder though if sometimes we aren't too invested in our images to see it from the audience point of view? I struggle with this at times trying to find the boundary between what I like and what the rest of the world wants too. Sometimes they intersect, sometimes it's me against the world, but ultimately it needs to tell the story I intended otherwise why make it. Thank you again and thank you for posting here! S-

[Bob Yankle]

I used to be more the purist than I am now so I completely understand about leaving it as it as. I appreciate that, and as an artist I expect the image to be yours through and through with all the makes you you, but I also wonder though if sometimes we aren't too invested in our images to see it from the audience point of view? I struggle with this at times trying to find the boundary between what I like and what the rest of the world wants too. Sometimes they intersect, sometimes it's me against the world, but ultimately it needs to tell the story I intended otherwise why make it. Thank you again and thank you for posting here! S-

Thanks for the well-reasoned and patient response Steve. I DO listen to folks who comment on my images, and there have actually been cases where I acted upon their suggestions, albeit in other forums (but some of the same people). It's the whole reason I submit some of my images to the Critics Corner ...... because I respect all the photographers here who make the suggestions. I appreciate that folks realize all of this is fairly subjective ...... there are rooms for lots of preferences. I think someone here said something to the effect "Take what you need and leave the rest.", and I intend to that judiciously. In other words, I will carefully consider ALL suggestions. I just may not act on all of them.

[St3v3M]

Thanks for the well-reasoned and patient response Steve. I DO listen to folks who comment on my images, and there have actually been cases where I acted upon their suggestions, albeit in other forums (but some of the same people). It's the whole reason I submit some of my images to the Critics Corner ...... because I respect all the photographers here who make the suggestions. I appreciate that folks realize all of this is fairly subjective ...... there are rooms for lots of preferences. I think someone here said something to the effect "Take what you need and leave the rest.", and I intend to that judiciously. In other words, I will carefully consider ALL suggestions. I just may not act on all of them.

We have an amazing family here and we're happy to have you join us! S-