march 23 easter light.jpg
by jpochard

Comment by L1:
Maybe it's a sun pillar...but I think maybe it's the truth, the light, and the way. Easter blessings to you and your family, Judy! :)

march 23 easter light.jpg
by jpochard

Comment by cgino:
What a beautiful example of a sun pillar! They are caused by sunlight reflecting off of ice crystals in high clouds. Lovely purple and reds, what a great capture!

Seattle Skyline
by jpochard

Comment by BHuseman:
Great skyline shot! This is gorgeous.

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by Jutilda:
It's that time isn't it? I planted them in the front flower bed for the first time this year and they are popping up. WOO HOO

I actually like the lighting. ;~)

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by glad2badad:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First Impression

Uncomfortable. Tight. Dark.

Looking Deeper

When reading the title of this photo I get the general idea of what the message is, and part of the photo works for it; the bright, slightly OOF background area.

Part of the problem for me is I can't comfortably settle in with this. My eyes wander for a focal point and find one in the lower foreground, but that's not a comfortable place to go. It's dark and away from the highlights that I'm naturally drawn to. Hence, a back & forth duel - focus, light, focus, light, etc...

In looking at the layout of the flowers you may have had to move to another vantage point to get this to work. If the foreground tulip was illuminated more, or higher up, the focus could have been given to that and the bg would be more natural. Perhaps even some bounced fill light? I carry a piece of white paper and a small folded sheet of aluminum foil in my bag for situations like this.

One last control point item...the upper-left yellow is another attention stealer IMO.

I'm a big fan of bg bokeh and want to like this shot for that alone (I love the little peek of blue/purple lower right!)...just the foreground bringing it down for me. Sorry. I guess that would technically constitute composition.

Side note...the new rules allow for 720px and 200kb filesize...not sure if the extra 50kb would have helped any, but it's there to use. :-)

Oops! I just read the comments rec'd after the challenge (you must have posted for forum feedback?). Guess my thoughts align with the general concensus. I usually wait until I've formed my thoughts before reading others' feedback - keeps my from being unduly influenced.

Questions? Please feel free to send me a PM. Thanks!

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by cpanaioti:
My eye is drawn directly to the tulip on the left (brightest area of the photo). I think the issue is that that tulip is out of focus. The tulip in focus is in the shadows and not drawing much attention.

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by see:
First I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention.
My eyes are automatically drawn to the tight group in the rear, vibrant in color, bathed in light also seemingly in a tight group. The light and lack of focus give the feeling of activity, of life. But your focus is drawn to one that̢۪s separate from the group, smaller in stature, still shrouded in shade, struggling for a small hint of sunlight. The pedals even seem misshaped which add to the lonely feel to this flower. This photo is fantastic. I will add it to my favorites.

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by Monique64:
The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this shot is that I wish the main flower, the one being in focus had more light on it. It seems that the light is highlighting the backgound flowers and these aren't your main subject. Your main subject is lost in the shadows. This change would have made a average shot into a very good one and would definately have raised the score.

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by yanko:
For me the lighting is too ordinary which is holding back the good color scheme you have here (reds and greens in particular). I would use a reflector to fill in some of those shadows so that more of the green popped. I would also experiment with a b/w conversion if you balanced out the tones more with the reflector but it probably has the greater appeal as a full color image.

ETA: In addition, I would try some light modification and change the light direction. Block some of the sun's light and use a flash on the ground between some of those flowers. That might get you some interesting effects.

Message edited by author 2008-03-08 01:19:04.

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment by macrothing:
In response to your request for feedback - I don't mind the centered composition, although with the yellow at the rear, perhaps a little more space or more color on the right for added balance. I think the biggest criticism would be the main flower is too dark, perhaps tweaking in pp may have brought it to life more. Otherwise, I like the effect produced by the oof flowers behind and also the bokeh is very nice. I didn't get to this while voting, but hypothetically, perhaps a 6 - it has potential.