Vine of Laceby
lytaComment by SteveJ: Greetings from the Critique Club:
Vine of Lace was your entry in the Delicate challenge and this meets the brief very well.
Technical:
The first thing I noticed when the image appeared was the branch at the bottom right of the image. It is shame this could not be cropped out, but that have meant losing the flowers/seeds at the bottom of the image. Your DOF drops off really quickly, suggesting that the main branch was coming towards your camera. There is noticeable noise/grain on the bottom left, which is unusual for ISO 100, I feel this is probably due to the amount of USM used as the fully in focus flowers/seeds at the top of the image are suffering from slight oversharpening. The lighting is very effective as is the light purple in the bottom right. Good use of portrait format and maximum size. Thanks for putting in your processing steps, makes life a lot easier.
Composition:
Using portrait format and maximum size really brings the image alive. The main subject is central in the shot and some viewers do not like this, but here it worked very well. I think you could have cropped tighter to lose the bottom branch, even at the expense of the lower flowers/seeds.
Overall:
The branch at the bottom is distracting probably cost a few tenths on points, still a good score though lower than some of your others. Just a little oversharpening which has introduced some noise/grain in the lower third of the image. A really good photo that suffered slightly from the already mentioned points. If you have time, try cropping and using less USM to see what the effects are like. Well done. I hope this is helpful and constructive.
Steve
Photographer found comment helpful.
