beautifully imperfect...

[teoelisha]

hi all,

it's been a long time since i posted something here. would like to seek your opinions and learn. would like to share a photo i took on an early morning walk in botanic gardens. would love to hear your views on it.



1.In what area is critique to be sought?
i would like to seek opinions on how the picture could have been shot better, being white flowers, not wanting to lose details. also, i chose to focus on the flower that had a slight blemish. to show that it's beautifully imperfect.

2.what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
i want to show the beauty of the frangipani flower despite its slight imperfection. also want to show the elegance of a slight morning dew on the flowers.

3.under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
it was a quiet morning. i had a wonderful walk in the botanic gardens and found these frangipani trees that had these beautiful flowers. the morning was cool and slightly overcast.

4.what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
i like the picture. especially the details in the petals that were captured.

thanks all!

 

[Cutesperm]

Well.... look abit underxepose to me... :dunno:

 

[Cutesperm]

Maybe can try to +1 ev when shooting bright subject?

 

[nysheng]

yes..it's a bit underexposed... but it's not bad.

focusing wise..it's just a little bit off. ur main flower is mostly in focus..except for the bit nearest the camera.. but at the same time, the petal of the flower to the left is also slightly in focus. do take note

 

[wkteoh]

Looks good to me. The underexposure, intentional or not, dims the surrounding leaves so that the flower stands out, plus it enhances the saturation of the colour. Agree with the comment on focus by nysheng. Maybe should try another angle (to the right a bit) so that you can get the whole of main subject in focus and the other flowers more out of focus.

 

[teoelisha]

hi all,

thanks for the comments. the photo was taken bright. deliberately underexposed during pp to show the veins on the petals of the flowers. can't seem to get the pic bright but yet not lose the details of the petals as well as the dew drops. would anyone care to share some pointers? i used photoshop cs3 & lightroom cs3 beta.

 

[nysheng]

what are the parameters? mayb 1/3 stop higher might be better?
since u r using ps, play around with levels..

 

[Shen siung]

IMHO, the composition is ok, just that the title might not so suit to the photo, as I thought there could be more 'imperfect' rather then just a small little blemish.

 

[zaren]

the colours are a bit flat, so suggest a slight boost in contrast and saturation to bring out the colours a bit more. nice details in the petals.

 

[nigel84]

Errm, TS, I would not shoot it this way. Too much of a bird's eye view to me. Understand that you want to show what is beautifully imperfect. I would really prefer it closed up, like what i had did here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigel_4ever/4118793329/ I had a drop of the morning dew on the bottom petal to signify the dew. Which i think is subtlety sufficient. On the curves, I believe you still would be able to bump it more slightly to bring out the vibrancy of it.

Try experiment with different views and angle, it would sometimes amaze you with what you would be able to see thru your viewfinder.

 

[runaway1991]

i think this is a really nice picture.

what i feel is that if the exposure had been increased,
the details of the flower would not be brought out
due to the background being distracting/too much colour etc.

and this was just nice

i guess it's just how we interpret it.

 

[Chrix Chua]

I like it, now it only needs a motivational phrase to go with it.