A Rising Sun(flower) - 50mm f/1.8 + Hoya CUL

[slejhamer]

http://www.pbase.com/image/29398083.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/29398083

Playing around with composition. Does it work?

50mm f/1.8 lens at f/22, Hoya +4 CUL, 2 second exposure, natural light (north-facing window.)

Selective soft-focus added in PS to diffuse the petals, but I kept the center sharp.

The bg is a photograph of flowers that I waved behind the sunflower to create a blurred effect.

Your comments appreciated.

[shniks]

Yes, it works, its beautiful. I particularly like the soft colours and the lighting. The background colour looks fantastic, but I dont like the fact that the blurred flowers look fake (even though they are a photo they look like a painting) - however I would not have noticed it if you didn't mention it. Overall - its gorgeous.

[gsmx2]

It works for me very much.

[rick barclay]

I like it. It really looks a lot less fake than much of the other stuff I see
posted here and on other forums. That pic has a lot of karma. Ommmmm.

[PhotosGuy]

The bg is a photograph of flowers that I waved behind the sunflower to create a blurred effect.

Very creative idea! I like it, and the pic a lot!
I've posted a lot of blurred pics in the last week or so, just to try to suggest that 'creative controls' may range from the usual needle sharp to not sharp at all.

I also like the way you didn't go overboard with the selective blur that you added in P$.

[dn7elson]

Playing around with composition. Does it work?

I go from liking it to being bothered by it :D

I love the lighting and color. It's a beautiful image.

What bothers me, and I'm not really sure why, is the lack of balance that seems to be perhaps an optical illusion of the stem alignment with the flower. The flower is cropped in such a way as to make the eye think that the center portion is much smaller than it is and thereby makes the stem look disjointed from the center of the flower. Then my mind sees the center of the center, but my eye won't go along :? Also, the stem seems to lead the eye to a point at the very edge of, or just beyond the right side of the picture. I almost wish that the stem wasn't in the picture as a result.

Then again, maybe it's just me :lol:

[slejhamer]

Shniks: thanks. There is a fairly famous photographer (I can't remember the name - obviously he's not too famous :D ) who does still life images of flowers using painted backgrounds almost exclusively. To some degree I was emulating what I remember seeing of his work, so I'll take your comment about the bg looking like a painting as a compliment. :wink:

gsmx2: thanks

rick: your karma ran over my dogma

PhotosGuy: thanks; i agree with you that sharpness isn't everything, and there is a place for "softness" too. Vadim ("msvadi" here on the forum) posts some very nice work with his soft focus lens.

dale: thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hadn't noticed it before, but can now see the slightly "disjointed" appearance that results from the crop and shooting angle. Hmmm, maybe a different shooting angle would help? An excuse to play around some more... :lol:

[boomer1959]

I realy like it. The soft focus is great :D

[LightHunter]

To me this is a nice picture with a very "compatibel" background. The composition is a bit unusual and then again not.

To my personal taste to much of the flower is missing and I believe a bit more of the flower on the right would not harm.

[Cropduster]

I really like the crop, saturation, focus and background. After looking at it several times now, I realize what bothers me. I wish the flower was "looking into" the frame instead of "looking out of" the frame.

[slejhamer]

Thanks Dave, LightHunter, CropDuster.

Crop, yes the edge tension caused the flower falling out of frame was intentional, part of my failed little "experiment." Obviously, it may not work for most people. :wink: Definitely a broken rule.
:D