Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Image Critique #7

Today's installment of "Image Critique" has been generously submitted by Allie. Let's have a look, shall we.....


Scott Bulger Photography Blog

This is really a very nice shot. Nicely exposed and well composed. There is detail available in all parts of the white orchids petals, as well as plenty of detail to be plucked from the shadows. The small bud in the lower left corner is a very big part of the composition, as is the nicely diagonal line of the stem.

Just a couple of small things to note:

  • The upper right hand corner has a light fixture in it. It's pretty dark, and not offensive in any way, but being such a natural photograph, you might want to darken up that lamp if you can or eliminate it from your composition if possible. It just detracts from the naturalness of the scene a bit.
  • The ratio of this image as presented is 576 x 551. Close to, but not a square. If you actually crop it to square, the edges of your frame get too close to both the bud on the left and the bloom on the right.

Scott bulger Photography Blog

Any attempt at putting a matte over this image will result in a further encroachment of these two important compositional elements. This can be solved in a number of ways, but it's just something to think about when shooting in 35mm with the intention of cropping to square. The sooner you recognize the issue, the easier it is to correct.

Bottom Line: I wish that this blog post was longer, but this is really a terrific image. Well composed and well exposed. Very well done with a delicate situation.



11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very interesting - I'll be back to learn more!
and thank you for the comment:)

Allie said...

Thank you, Scott. I'll work on my sizing and cropping and darken the background. allie

rose AKA Walk in the Woods - she/her said...

Beautiful photo and nice critique!
The exposure is near to perfect and I like the composition very much. I find cropping out an aspect of an image a challenge to do myself, so when I see it, I honor it as an act of creativity *and* COURAGE!

Nice!

Ivy & Mae said...

I really dig these posts scott.

I am not a photographer, I know nothing, but I appreciate reading a expert critique from someone who is!

Sus said...

Scott, I must admit to surprise that you didn't take issue with the right-hand side of the image/petal being cropped off. For me, this slicing off of the flower unbalances the entire composition.

Scott Bulger Photography said...

Susan, thanks for bringing that to my attention. There was an error in the way the image was being display. I have corrected it now so the entire image is visible.

AmyC ~ said...

Beautiful.

ara133photography said...

Gorgeous image Allie!

kim* said...

i agree about the right corner, somethings look better left out. you may think its helping but organic beauties dont need help when they are plainly beautiful. it could so without for sure.

formfireglassworks said...

Very enjoyable to go through a serious critique! Nice to see someone willing to have an opinion!

Anonymous said...

Very interesting post... and geogeus photo!