Theme - F/1.4

[Cheryl Slechta]

I've been busy going through old images and purging lots of them so I uncovered some for this theme. I actually used this image at our local camera club meeting on Monday because the theme was Still Life and I had procrastinated until the last day to set up some studio shots. These are objects from my home - actually they reside on the chest in the image. I added an aged photo texture from shadowhouse creations using soft blend mode. I could have had a better composition - eliminating some of the negative space in the center.
Thanks for looking.

Shot with a 50mm lens at f/1.4

[Anita Bower]

It definitely fits the theme. Great selective focus. I agree about the arrangement--the lavender vase could have been more in the center.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Cheryl,

Greetings. Very interesting focus effect. Something about the combination of the texture & focus suggests (maybe just to me ;-) everything is under water with just the focused bit above the water. Maybe a crop from the top to just above the stem for another look? Thanks for posting this one.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[gary ellwein]

Cheryl, the image certainly represents the theme. I like the colors and textures. I like the left half of the image with the fg gourd and green vase.

[Nancy Bell]

Wonderful texture for this still life, creating that glowing, translucent quality. I agree that the elements could be tighter together.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Michael, I like your idea. At first I thought I didn't like the idea of losing the tops of the bottles but it helps with the negative space in the middle.

Cheryl,

Greetings. Very interesting focus effect. Something about the combination of the texture & focus suggests (maybe just to me ;-) everything is under water with just the focused bit above the water. Maybe a crop from the top to just above the stem for another look? Thanks for posting this one.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Cheryl Slechta]

Here's a repost - I used content aware move tool to move the smaller vase over to fill in the space a bit and reapplied the same texture with a slightly different hue and brushed back in the gourds and vases but left a little more texture on them than before. Still not perfect but I like the composition better. When I have time I'll recompose the elements and retake the image.

[Anita Bower]

The moving of the vase is an improvement. What I'm noticing now, is the bright area on the lavender vase. An easy fix. What do you think of cropping the top below the top of each vase?

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Anita, I notice it now too Someday soon I'll rearrange them all and try again.

[Dennis Bishop]

Moving that vase over even such a small amount made a big difference. The composition gives a U shape, and that's regarded as a good thing. I like the look of the image, especially the color combination. The texture fits, too, but I'd be inclined to heal that spot it makes just to the right of the gourd on the right.