Reflected Roseby
kandyjComment: Hello from the Critique Club -
I bet you thought I had forgotten all about your poor picture being held hostage for week. Well, I didn't.
I voted on this photo, the critique club computer assigned it to me, I read all the comments, thought about my response a bit, was wondering why the background was so unblack when I remembered that you said you shot it on your mirror. Why on a mirror? I thought. I am embarrassed to say that it was only THEN that I noticed this was not an unusually fat rose but actually a rose and it's reflection. I should have been clued in by the title but I wasn't. So perhaps others also missed the refection?
This is really a lovely rose and I think if it were fixed up it could be sale quality. I do wish that the reflection was clearer. Perhaps the reflected image could be paler? You could fix it up now that the challenge is over. Perhaps just darken the shadows btween the two images so there is a sense of separation? Do you find that feathery reflection at the very back edge of rose #2 distracting? I don't mind it but if you are cleaning the image up for possible sale of prints maybe that could be fixed too. Also I think you need just a bit more room for the rose, it feels crowded to me and the thin orange border only enhances the feeling of confinement. to me a rose should be free.
I think the image as a whole is too square. If you backed up just a little you could put in more negative black space which would bring up the shape of the flower and maybe the perfect circle center of the reflection (my favorite part) would end up in that magic rule of thirds spot that everyne find so pleasing. Is that a duplicate stem at the lower left? Could you edit that out too? it obscures that nice curled leaf. Picky aren't I.
I love the color - I think the seredipitous white balance error worked in your favor. I LOVE to soft focus. there have been many discussion of soft vs OFF focus. This is a good example of soft. There isn't one sharp spot and other fussy ones. Instead it is all that the same focus, good use of your DOF. The water droplets are just right and well placed. And I love the texture, the smooth warm rose and the cool round drops of dew and the spikey fuzzy stem all make great contrasts. The lighting is perfect, nice and even but still creating petal shadows.
Your composition is too "in your face", meaning that it s too centered, too big for it's frame. there really isn't any room for the meandering eye of the viewer. the stem is a bit of a leading line but the flower is a giant blob. Could it be placed more off center? More background? more shadows in the petals? a center of focus? I don't see many of the classic design elements. the rose is to big to be a shape, too uniform to have a pattern, nothing to balance it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it need to be closer, rather than further away. What would happen if you cropped it in and let the petals be the focus, would that play up that circular center tat I like?
As far a stock photography, I agree that this probably would not sell. Stock should be lovely but maybe less dominant. A stock photo would be used to catch the eye but i must be able to share or be secondary to the message, be it an advertizement or a greeting card. If this was on a white background sort of fading away it would make a nice card. But I prefer this rose to stand out on it's own as a framed print (oh, it could be a calendar page).
So overall I almost love this image, but not quite. It almost catches my eye, but loses me. It is nice enough to deserve some more work, not be abandoned.
And the disclaimer: please remember that this is only my opinion and I am NOT an expert.
Message edited by author 2003-03-25 11:22:20. 
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