Bleeding Heartsby
NstiG8trComment by Artifacts: Positives:
Selective desat done very well with natural and not overpowering color. Tough to do with reds.
Technicals:
This is a very solid technical achievement all the way around. You did an especially good job with the color boundary. The soft focus background works well.
The composition, though not centered, has a centered framing look. There are a few overexposed "hot" spots in the background. The left flower is SLIGHTLY out of focus.
The Challenge:
Fits the challenge... Duh! LOL. Finished above average and that is good given the subject selection which probably hurt it's score overall. Technical quality saved it.
I voted this image a "7". In my world that means I think it is average. I was influenced by the framing and hots spots. Now I'd score it an "8", because it is definitely above average.
Suggestions:
You have a few background blob-like hot spots in the composition you might consider fixing.
Removing "Hot" Spots
Though "hot" spots, overexposed areas in compositions, are surprisingly tolerated by DPC voters they generally are distractions that should be removed.
There is a simple, but effective technique you can use, probably in a duplicate of your background layer using the clone tool. Here is the trick. Set the opacity of the tool low, around 10%, select an appropriate place to clone from that has some detail to it and then very lightly clone over the overexposed area. You will be surprised how natural the effect is and will not look at all like the place it is cloned from. Amazing what a little blending and brightness difference can accomplish.
End - Removing "Hot" Spots
You might consider different framing of the composition for a more offset look. It's hard to say just how, though. There are a lot of possibilties with this picture. Offsetting the flowers more and framed with an offset vignette done automatically or by hand would work very well with this composition. It is hard to go wrong with vignette highlighting.
You might finally consider using the Sharpen tool VERY gingerly for a bit more sharpness to the left flower. But be careful, of course, because it is easy to screw up. :)
Photographer found comment helpful.
