Night

[Desmond Chan]

D700 100 f2.0 on tripod. Manual exposure mode. ISO 200 f22 1/8s.

Slight crop and burned the background selectively.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thank you !!!

[Julie Kenward]

Desmond, did you actually take this at night?

Two things to think about...

Since the BG is all but gone, why not take it there all the way? And, if you do, I'd recrop to a vertical and get rid of all the negative space on the right side of the frame.

I'd also look at selectively pumping up the purple flowers just a bit - the deep dramatic look is nice but they do look "underexposed" at this point. I bet a quick tweak of levels or curves would pop the color and still keep that dramatic look.

[Desmond Chan]

Desmond, did you actually take this at night?

Not exactly. More like in the shade. I looked at the image on the LCD and wondered if it were under-exposed. But I kind of liked what I saw and wanted to take advantage of it.

Since the BG is all but gone, why not take it there all the way?

An all black background? The problem with an all black background is it has no hint of depth. With what I had in mind, that's not what I want.

And, if you do, I'd recrop to a vertical and get rid of all the negative space on the right side of the frame...
I'd also look at selectively pumping up the purple flowers just a bit

I've tried both and did like what I saw. But I don't think I would make the flowers too bright though. I wanted to leave it as presented to see what other think about it.

- the deep dramatic look is nice but they do look "underexposed" at this point

But I think that's closer to how things look in a dark environment though. If I follow exactly what the meter reading said, the image would look very much like it would be in the daytime (everything at the brightness of 18% gray). Here I tried to preserve and present what I saw when I pressed the shutter button. Understandably, some may find this image eye-straining and some may not even bother to take a look at it :)

Thank you for the comments and suggestions, Julie !

[Mike Moats]

Hey Desmond, I like the surreal look here. and don't mind the look as is, but I agree with Jules on cropping the negative space on the right side. Maybe a square crop or turning it into a veritcal.

[denise ippolito]

Desmond, I agree that there seems to be too much negative space on the one side. But I like your idea here w/ the "night" look-maybe just a bit more light on the flowers.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Desmond,
Agree 100% with the crop recomendation and would go vert! I may selectively lighten the blooms with different levels layers....keeping them dark....but bringing them out a bit more at different opacities...adding a subtle light depth.

[Desmond Chan]

I think the final crop would like be a vertical :)

Thank you again !!