Poppy Bloom

[denise ippolito]

Canon 5D
100 mm Macro lens
1/80 sec. at f/5.6
ISO 200
natural light
does the comp seem too top heavy?

[Richard Lovison]

Denise,

Great colors and good exposure. The composition does seem a bit unbalanced... maybe this has to do with the flower being round with only one. I'm not sure. A little more space on the bottom might help.

What I find to be the most interesting part is the center. A macro shot of the center with the petals filling the rest of the frame might be another option.

[denise ippolito]

Richard, Thanks for your input,I'm not sure I want a just center shot but I do feel it is unbalanced. I would like to show the edges of the flower if I can. What do you think about a rotation on it's side say CCW?

[Richard Lovison]

Julie,

The rotation didn't seem to work for me though I played with a more square composition like this:

http://richardlovison.com/photos/repost.jpg

Maybe someone with a better eye for composition than I can join in. I still feel the original with a bit more space at the bottom would work.

[Julie Kenward]

It does feel a bit top heavy, doesn't it? Yet, isn't that how poppies are? Big flowers, small, windy stems? I'd let the flower speak for itself although I do like the square comp that Richard did as well.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks for the feedback!! I'll keep at it.

[Bruce Murden]

Denise, before I saw Richard's crop, I, too, was thinking a square crop would be best here. With the off-center yellow center of this bloom, square cropping around the outskirts of the bloom gives you a nice dynamic unbalanced look, where your image is not just of a specific poppy, but a graphic color study. to enhance that view, I would prefer cloning out the stem, which appears to be coming from an unusual angle. With the stem cloned out, the viewer would like sub-consciously assume the stem to be beneath the bloom, and not worry about its absence.

[Anita Bower]

Lovely. I like the lighting, colors, detail. I think the square comp works better.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks Bruce and Anita-I'll give it a try.

[Ed Vatza]

I too prefer the square crop primarily because it eliminates that oof yellow at the bottom. I don't mind the green leaf in the LL corner (as a matter of fact, I kinda like it) but the yellow was a bit distracting. The square crop solved that problem!

[Joseph Martines]

I see you are in the poppy fields again!!

Isn't that illegal??

Nice capture.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks Ed and Joseph!!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Denise,
I did like the square crop but found the original intriguing but couldn't quite put my finger on what I found off...so I went exploring with the crop tool. I cropped a bit off the left and added canvas right. Did a bit of clean up on the brighter area Ed suggested too. I find I like this a bit better than the square crop, maybe because the stamen is now close to the ROT position???..... but let's see if others come back and chime in.

[denise ippolito]

Roman, I think that's it!!!