Critique Club Comment:
Hi Edward and welcome!
Initial Impression: Like several commenters, I initially reacted to the tilted horizon. But, as I look at it more carefully, I'm wondering if your point of view includes a rolling, gentle slope. Hard to tell, but even if it is, the first reaction is likely to see a tilted horizon. Beyond that aspect (and the close to center placement of the horizon), there's a lot interesting stuff going on here. It caught my eye and kept me looking.
Color: You've definitely got some excellent purple going for you! I've never seen a lavender field up close, but I think there are a few around where I live - I'm going to be looking for sure. I find the intense saturation of the flowers and the orange-brown material between the rows - is it gravel, rock, or some kind of mulch? - to be a bit distracting. The color of the sky seems a bit incongruous to the foreground, too; likely an artifact of the HDR process. I suspect the clouds were more grey than the blue cast you show here.
Composition: I've already mentioned the ambiguity of the horizon line (tilted or rolling hill?) and the overall centering of the horizon in the frame. When I set those two questions aside, I see good design in the composition - I'm particularly drawn to the straight vertical line on the left and the way it draws my attention to the clouds on that side of the image. I find myself focusing my attention on the left side - the right side seems to almost fade to periphery. I think this is actually an effectively balanced composition.
Technical details: I'm not a fan of this style of HDR processing. As amazing as the technical effect of merging multiple exposures can be, it doesn't always produce an overall pleasing effect when done with too little subtlety. Finally, your selection of f/2.8 limits the depth of field enough to create a distracting blur in the extreme foreground and a sense that there's really very little that sharp throughout. - this lack of sharpness may be amplified by the merging of multiple exposures, too - especially outdoors when even slight breeze can be enough to move the lavender between shots.
Overall: Despite all the specific suggestions, I do find this to be an attractive image. I scored it as a 6 during voting. For me that means it caught my attention in a good way. There's a lot to like. Nice work.
BTW... Since this is apparently only your second entry here, let me point you to this thread in the forums. Your score of 5.9xxx qualifies you to be a recipient of the world's tiniest violin award - for images that are "Almost-But-Not-Six" At this rate your break the 6+ threshold no time! |