Near Dabob, WA, on tne Hood Canal

Comments welcome!

John out of the set I am going to go with #1 because even though you have a busy
composition area at least the accent color of the flower makes it work it stands out.

But #2 it's the opposite the area of composition is just too busy my eyes do not immediately
engage on the subject instead they are instantly drawn to the yellowish/green leaves

Thanks for looking and commenting!

Provo wrote: John out of the set I am going to go with #1 because even though you have a busy
composition area at least the accent color of the flower makes it work it stands out.

But #2 it's the opposite the area of composition is just too busy my eyes do not immediately
engage on the subject instead they are instantly drawn to the yellowish/green leaves

I agree with you on that

Thanks for commenting! I did actually have an idea for shooting no2 this way...
Perhaps looking at the shot here:

www.flickr.com/photos/perlucem/7402890888/in/photostream

may help. I wanted to present the image as I first saw it: the pink blossoms seemingly floating out of the brightly lit, distant background. I shot it for texture and light, not traditional "here is the subject" composition, with shallow DOF and slight overexposure of the background Perhaps my ambition overreached my abitity...

John thanks for proving the link I did look at the image much larger then it is displayed here
it does improve the visual.

Did you happen to take a closer shot of the flowers I guess what I would've imagined
working better would be more bokeh with the background and more clarity focused on the subject.
But as stated looking at the image larger does improve visually.

You did well

Would you mind if I tried to see if I can get some bokeh added to your #2 image
as an edit?

Sorry, I would mind. I'll be glad to discuss this image with you if you are interested, or one of yours. Thanks for taking the time to look.
This might give an indication of what I was thinking:

www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Artist-s-Gard...pularpaintings%2Ephp

John, I appreciate a fellow photographer being inspired by Claude Monet, although I'm afraid he's way above my head, at least when it comes to catching and recreating light with a brush and a palette. I can see what you're trying, especially in #2, but I'd love to see a version without the tree trunks (to me, they're just disturbing). How about trying around the same place somewhat later in the afternoon? Not really able to make more sense than that, sorry.

Anyway, I checked your Flickr site, and those "Japanese Dogwoods" are excellent. I'd put that one on my wall any time. And thanks for making me return to PT, I haven't been around for ages. Maybe it's time to start posting again.

Viewing on flickr does give a better idea of your intent. My issue is with composition. There are no "lines" to draw the eye into the subject. I would try cropping about a third off the right and a third off the bottom. Then the color of the flowers will draw the eye in to the image.
Notice how Monet used a bed of flowers starting in the bottom left. He used color instead of clear shapes to create his images. If you were to apply a heavy soften or blur to your image, you could look for that eye-guiding element.
Hope that articulates my thoughts on the image.

John,
I think I see what you were trying to do but I'm not sure that it translated the way you wanted. The blossoms do "float" nicely but I think the similar colors and textures in the background, although out of focus, are making the image lose it's objective. The background needs to be more out of focus, or of contrasting colors, or much darker, to really highlight the pink blossoms. There's too much else going on to draw the eye away from the flowers in the foreground.
I agree with Mindrebo that the tree trunk on the right should probably be cropped out and that maybe you should revisit this shot again. Later in the day when the background would be darker. Perhaps the afternoon light will be right for the blossoms to be highlighted more. It looks like if you stood a little more to the right, and swung the camera a little to the left, the background is darker in shadow. Lean against that tree to stabilize yourself and maybe you can avoid getting the other the other tree in the frame also.
All that being said, if you're going strictly for color and texture, make everything very blurry and abstract. Large areas of greens and browns with splotches of bright pink could work.
Keep at it! Don't give up. Sometimes I shoot the same subject for months or even years in different light, different times of day, or different seasons until I get what I see in my head.
By the way, the images of the piano players in your portfolio are very nice. Good eye!

Mindrebø wrote: John, I appreciate a fellow photographer being inspired by Claude Monet, although I'm afraid he's way above my head, at least when it comes to catching and recreating light with a brush and a palette. I can see what you're trying, especially in #2, but I'd love to see a version without the tree trunks (to me, they're just disturbing). How about trying around the same place somewhat later in the afternoon? Not really able to make more sense than that, sorry.

Anyway, I checked your Flickr site, and those "Japanese Dogwoods" are excellent. I'd put that one on my wall any time. And thanks for making me return to PT, I haven't been around for ages. Maybe it's time to start posting again.

Nice to heart from you again. Comin back to NY soon?

Baydream wrote: Viewing on flickr does give a better idea of your intent. My issue is with composition. There are no "lines" to draw the eye into the subject. I would try cropping about a third off the right and a third off the bottom. Then the color of the flowers will draw the eye in to the image.
Notice how Monet used a bed of flowers starting in the bottom left. He used color instead of clear shapes to create his images. If you were to apply a heavy soften or blur to your image, you could look for that eye-guiding element.
Hope that articulates my thoughts on the image.

You certainly did, John. And, lest anyone should think so, let me state that I only used that Monet image(not the one I was looking for) to illustrate the sort of device I was trying to use, not to compare with his genius.... I was trying to use light and color to create the image, the light and color I found at the place (BTW, I was standing on the edge of a small ravine, so little chance of moving around to frame better, as has been suggested). When painting, one can conjure up the needed elements. When photographing, one can try to create an image in PP, or enhance the image as actually seen, and I tried to do the latter. I do have some notion of composition and perspective in the most commonly used forms, and I asked myself if a valid image could be made without using "guiding" lines, stron perspective, strong chiaroscuro, or color highlight (No1 in "From Dabob"). I'll look at your cropping suggestions, which I had considered, but decided against, as also to using heavy blur. I really appreciate your taking the time to look and answer, as I do everyone else's response.

augiewren wrote: John,
I think I see what you were trying to do but I'm not sure that it translated the way you wanted. The blossoms do "float" nicely but I think the similar colors and textures in the background, although out of focus, are making the image lose it's objective. The background needs to be more out of focus, or of contrasting colors, or much darker, to really highlight the pink blossoms. There's too much else going on to draw the eye away from the flowers in the foreground.
I agree with Mindrebo that the tree trunk on the right should probably be cropped out and that maybe you should revisit this shot again. Later in the day when the background would be darker. Perhaps the afternoon light will be right for the blossoms to be highlighted more. It looks like if you stood a little more to the right, and swung the camera a little to the left, the background is darker in shadow. Lean against that tree to stabilize yourself and maybe you can avoid getting the other the other tree in the frame also.
All that being said, if you're going strictly for color and texture, make everything very blurry and abstract. Large areas of greens and browns with splotches of bright pink could work.
Keep at it! Don't give up. Sometimes I shoot the same subject for months or even years in different light, different times of day, or different seasons until I get what I see in my head.
By the way, the images of the piano players in your portfolio are very nice. Good eye!

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Dave. I wasn't exactly "going for color and texture": I wanted to use them to define the image instead of geometric or tonal devices, not to create a color abstract, as I tried to express in my quote on Baydream's reply. While I agree that cropping the trunk on the right would strengthen the flowers, it would make the trunk in the background untenable, in my opinion, so I decided against it-better in, for this particular shot (of course, the alternative was to forget this shot altogether, but I thought it an opportunity to exchange ideas, so...) As far as reframing, please, see Baydream's answer. And I do agree that persistence is essential, as is the wilingness to hear alternative views. Thank you!

John np I completely understand & respect your wishes.

Thanks.