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Vitual image critique

Posted: Sun 12 Jul 2020, 13:27
by Ronald Barker
Our last critique evening our judge advised that I could try blurring around the rose, having tried it I would like your comments.

Young and not so young 2.jpg
Young and not so young 2.jpg (410.3 KiB) Viewed 4314 times

Re: Vitual image critique

Posted: Sun 12 Jul 2020, 16:13
by Franke07
Hi Ron!

I really like the colours of the small rose, the focus on it is a little off but I think that still works, as softness is one the things you associate with roses.

Softening/blurring the background nicely done! We're you happy with the changes/end result?

I would have approached this a little differently, (the larger rose is a real distraction) I would have firstly gone for a square crop of the smaller rose and cloned out the the parts of the larger rose that are included within the crop and then blurred the background.

Hope this is of some help, if you like I can do the edit to show what I envisaged

Re: Vitual image critique

Posted: Mon 13 Jul 2020, 11:03
by Ronald Barker
Hi Frank

Thank you for comments, I don't think our judge took to much notice of titles this was call young and not so young, so applying the blurring to me took away from the title.
I could have darkened the foliage down a lot more but felt on this occasion it helped it as it was.

Re: Vitual image critique

Posted: Mon 13 Jul 2020, 14:41
by Mike Farley
Hi Ron

This is a good idea, adjusting our critique images in line with Al Buntin's comments and showing the result. It is something which I had thought to do with mine, but have not yet had the time since the meeting. It would be straightforward with a couple but the other requires the wholesale removal of what I consider to be a principal element and would be harder to achieve. The before and after would make an interesting comparison and making the changes permits a comprehensive assessment of the comments.

Courtesy of my administrative access to PhotoEntry, I have had a look at your original image. There the larger rose is reasonably sharp but the leaves, especially those at lower right, are more in focus. While I cannot recall what Al said, your retreatment of the shot goes beyond blurring the background which you mention in your initial post. For me, that would have helped direct the eye to the main subjects without bringing undue attention to the leaves. Personally, I do not feel that blurring the main rose benefits the shot as it raises the question why the most significant portion is out of focus. With this type of subject, I also like to apply a little vignetting to draw attention away from the edges (and dampen any distracting highlights if they are present). Maybe a more subtle adjustment would better realise your vision from when you took the shot?