Sunflowers on a Sunny Island


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J-Chan

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Sep 21, 2005
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spotted a bunch of freshly planted sunflowers, something you don't exactly see everyday in Singapore.

wanted to bring out that feeling of starkness, against our urban landscape. Any comments on the selective colourisation, composition would be greatly appreciated.
 

the flowers are very nice but i hope alittle more green would come back to compliment the beautiful yellows against the stark background you intended :thumbsup:
 

the flowers are very nice but i hope alittle more green would come back to compliment the beautiful yellows against the stark background you intended :thumbsup:

in this type of photography i prefer only one or the main subject stands out in color and the rest in mono/b&w.
 

the flowers are very nice but i hope alittle more green would come back to compliment the beautiful yellows against the stark background you intended :thumbsup:

I'd agree with wat Sprintist had just said. Reason would be elaborated below.

in this type of photography i prefer only one or the main subject stands out in color and the rest in mono/b&w.

Bblurrr, yes i understand what you are saying and getting to. However if you looked carefully in the background there are still hints of the leaves left behind. Which was why I believe that Sprintist said he would had preferred a little more green to compliment the flowers. However if the background was cleanly done, i would prefer it like you, in mono or b&w.
 

the yellows alone in this case will be 'scattered' and 'floating' around with grey leaves in between which i think the green would sort of realise the plant as it is as a whole.

if lets say it was only a stalk on a table, maybe only yellow itself will really stand out :)

but of course, it varies with personal preference :)
 

I think to further accentuate it, one should attempt to clean up the background as much as possible, and you can approach this by adjusting the shadows on the contrast curve further down.

This will leave the multiple stalks of flowers "suspended" in a black space, which may dramatize it.
 

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re-edited it according to calebk's suggestion.. too much?
 

this is way better... the blacks bring out the yellow and brightness of the flowers
 

selective colorisation is not the technique to use here. it just make you picture top heavy and unbalanced, as the yellow is too stark - the only way is to crop off the bottom to balance the picture. But dont think your PP is justifiable and your time can be better spent elsewhere.
 

selective colorisation is not the technique to use here. it just make you picture top heavy and unbalanced, as the yellow is too stark - the only way is to crop off the bottom to balance the picture. But dont think your PP is justifiable and your time can be better spent elsewhere.

I will have to disagree to this. There are more stalks and leaves amassed towards the bottom of the frame, which balances out composition a fair bit.
 

While the cleaned up image with the "pure" background does give a better overall picture I do wonder how this relates to your original vision to bring out a "feeling of starkness, against our urban landscape" without the Urban Landscape to juxtapose the flowers against you are in effect left with a still life of sunflowers. In fact even the original image had little "urban" with which to suggest your concept.

So has your vision for the shot changed, or has the input of others swayed you to see something else, or rather what they see in your shot?
 

Hi J-Chan,

I find that yellow on black is always good. And it seems that your shot of the flowers is very high in clarity, which gives the picture a very strong contrast. It's beautiful, although the grey leaves give the picture some sort of morbid feel to it. It will be good if the leaves are green, although care must be taken to prevent the green from "overshining" the yellow, if you know what I mean.

Great piece of photography!
 

i find that this picture does not work for me, mainly because the flowers are too overwhelming. selective coloration is not a bad choice to use for the yellow here, it stands out nicely and can help somewhat in terms of visual impact.. but best to simplify it.
 

i find that this picture does not work for me, mainly because the flowers are too overwhelming. selective coloration is not a bad choice to use for the yellow here, it stands out nicely and can help somewhat in terms of visual impact.. but best to simplify it.

Yeah man, its already too cluttered, and it doesnt quite show any "sunny island". The black background reminds me of a gloomy Gotham City; cos I had expected to see cheerful vibrant colours. Also, the sunflowers are of different sizes, and facing all over the place, why not just focus to ONE particular, with blurring out the rest?
 

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