120 Seconds of Fame
by stephan

Comment by alanfreed:
Whoa! I think I'm gonna need a cornea transplant after this one!! This could easily be used in one of those illusion books!

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by BAMartin:
Comment:
Critique Club Critique

(1) COMPOSITION (CONTENT) This is one of theose photographs that the viewer needs to look at for a long time to fully appreciate. I love how you have used the "other" rules of thirds so well (using three "things"). That is an especially effective tool. The three parts of the flower are strategically placed and that gives a very strong composition to this photograph.

(2) BACKGROUND The background is very dark, thus letting the brilliant colors of the flower be the only subject. The way that you have painted the yellows especially with light is wonderful. leaving darkness in the center of the flower adds to the decay. The missing part is just another example of the slow wilting of the flower.

(3) CAMERA WORK ,TECHNICAL The DOF is very deep, and there are no parts of the photograph that are out of focus. The subject stands out sharply against the pitch black of the background. This creates a striking subject.

(4) DIGITAL PROCESSING ,TECHNICAL Your post processing is good. Saturation is good, cropping is good. I see where several of your comments say that cropping a bit tighter would be nice. I do not tend to agree with that, I think the extra room around the subject is the perfect example of negative space. This is especially true because it is so dark. I would not feel this way if the background had been white or another color.

(5)MEETING THE CHALLENGE This photo does an excellent job of meeting the challenge. Not only is your subject cliche, but you have shot it in an imaginative and new way.

(6) MY OPINION ON THE PHOTO The subject here is wonderful. The way you executed it is fantastic. I think this is a photograph that you may wish to re-shoot a few times, it will probably be different with each shot. It would make for an interesting experiment. I may have to try this painting with light on my next photo shoot. Great job!!

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by stephan:
To be honest I was a bit disappointed by my inital score (5.0) last Monday. I thought it was the kind of photo which would score a bit higher here on DPC. But one thing is for sure: The scores here on DPC always will be a miracle to me ;-)

Your comments were helpful, because they gave me feedback about what you think, but I mostly don't agree :-)

Many people said that the lighting was too dark. Well it is dark, but in my opinion it's not too dark. That was what I wanted to do. The flower almost vanishing in the darkness. It hought that would fit to the "decay" theme.

Also people wished I had cropped it more tightly. Well, that was also intended. The original actually was more tightly cropped and I put more space around it by adding a black border (well not really a border because you can't see it, but you know what I mean). Without that I felt that the flower was too big and you basically look into the middle black area. Making it smaller and adding the black space, brought more atention to the petals. Maybe that was a wrong decision, but I don't really think so.


The light painting technique didn't seem to be visible. Nevertheless I like it very much and I'm sure I'll work with that a bit more.

The most funny comment was from joanns, because it hit the nail on the head. Yes, I waited too long and the flower decayed much faster than I thought, so I couldn't do my "pretty flower cliche" I previously had in mind ;-)

Thanks again to everybody for your feedback.

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by Olyuzi:
Almost abstract...very nice. I like the way the light hits the flowers.

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by PaulMdx:
Composition: I like the size of the subject and pic itself.
Technical: This comes out very dark on my monitor. Was this the effect you were going for? If so, the amount of negative space leaves the pic a little empty.
Overall impression: I think the subject had a lot going for it, for me it was possibly let down by lighting. 6

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by Gracechild7:
I really like this photo. Great colours, excellent use of lighting. The only gripe I have is that there is too much black. I would have liked a closer crop (although not a tight one) perhaps a perfect square, and a boarder definately could have added to the presentation of this this photo. But excellent job!

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by Allen:
I like how this pictyure is almost completely balc except for some parts of the flower. Nice Work.

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by nds:
"Out of the dark" could have been an other apposite title, but yours is much more cliche :-). Personally I like, that you don't show more of the stem by your lighting. Perhaps I would have cropped a little different. IMHO there is too much black space around the blossom. But this is only marginal. Great work, good luck!

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by indigo997:
Interesting take on the traditional flower shot. I like the black bg and the composition. Would like a little more light on the flower and a tighter crop. 8

Decaying Beauty
by stephan

Comment by LindaLee:
This is actually one of the few "dead" flower shots that I like. Not enough light on the flowers for me, but otherwise, pretty darn nice.