Gerber Daisiesby
dipaulkComment by Artyste: Greetings from the Critique Club.
Initial Thoughts
Very nice.. I'm not a flower lover, but this is nice to look at. Interesting subject for B&W.
Composition / Content
I personally like the composition you have here. It's not very classical, but it works. A strong center of the bottom daisy starts the viewer well, and it's a nice progression into the top flower, with the petals leading. The silky feel of the petals make the content a good choice, as it works extremely well in grey scale.
Background
Your background is sort of your main subject as well. A nice change of pace having the "background" as main focus, and the few parts of a further background we see are nicely OOF, and match the image.
Camera Work - Technical
Very nice exposure, you can almost feel the texture of the flowers. The DOF is great as well, giving a strong focus to the bottom and allowing that to be the strength of the photo, while the soft focus of the top petals give an almost 3D feel.
Digital Processing
One of the better works I've seen using the channel mixer for B&W, although I think it's probably one of the better methods of doing so. You've got a wonderful range of tones, and the sharpening was done beautifully. Only negative thing I could touch on is that some may have pegged you because of a minor amount of noise, but I don't find it hurts the shot at all.
Fits the Challenge
Definitely fits the challenge.
My Opinion on the Photo
This is one of the better floral photos I've seen to date. The B&W was a great choice here, and really helps bring out the satiny feel of the petals. You may have been hit because of a general apathy towards floral shots in challenges these days, but I don't think very many people can fault you technically here. Good job.
Photographer found comment helpful.
