White Hydrangea

[Anita Bower]

I know some of you will object to the composition and lots of negative space. I'm ready to hear it, but, I created this composition intentionally.

Nikon D300, Sigma 105mm macro, f4, 1/1250, ISO 200, pattern metering, manual focus (live view), manual exposure, auto wb, outdoors, natural light, tripod. PP: RAW conversion in Elements 7, minor editing in PS7, including some cloning (thanks Jules).

[Julie Kenward]

Actually, I probably wouldn't have said too much about the negative space except that I would like to have seen the florette at a little steeper angle going more towards the other corner. But...to me...the biggest problem is the OOF florette right behind the main one. It really is distracting me. Any way you could clone or paint it out so only the one branch and main florette remains? I think then you'd have a primo image.

Lovely lighting on this and you nailed those white, Anita!

[Anita Bower]

But...to me...the biggest problem is the OOF florette right behind the main one. It really is distracting me. Any way you could clone or paint it out so only the one branch and main florette remains? I think then you'd have a primo image.

!

Jules: I always appreciate your comments. Do you mean the two little flowers behind the main one, one of which is still in bud? Or, do you mean to totally out of focus white largis white area? Either way, I don't think my skills will allow me to get rid of them. I think it would be best for me to just keep that in mind in the future. Many thanks!!

[Fabs Forns]

I don't have a problem with the negative space, I think it could be a great element if used correctly.
I like it here. What I would do is crop the top inch and it look more balanced. There's too many OOF flowers relative to the size of the subject.

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with Fabs in the slight crop ... will also strengthen the position for the flower !!! Excellent !!!

[Anita Bower]

I don't have a problem with the negative space, I think it could be a great element if used correctly.
I like it here. What I would do is crop the top inch and it look more balanced. There's too many OOF flowers relative to the size of the subject.

Here is a cropped version.

[Beth Goffe]

The cropping helps in the composition because it removes the elements at the top of the original that were sharp. The OOF and the sharp parts of the flowers were a little too much competition. I think the negative space works here. It's complementary color and the diagonal of the flower make it work for me.

[Julie Kenward]

Anita, I did mean the really OOF one - the slightly OOF florettes don't bother me at all and the new crop really helps. It really isn't that hard - I know you could do it. I simply used the eye dropper tool to catch the green closest to the OOF part putting it in the foreground color swatch. Then I used a soft brush set to 75% opacity to go over the area, covering the white with the green. I did the same with the green below the OOF part as well (it was a little darker shade) and then used the clone tool at 50% opacity to blend over the areas I used the brush on.