Whether to crop left portion of image?

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Taken with Nikon CP900 digital camera. Morning sunlight at 9 a.m. Spot metering, 35-mm equivalent settings - 115 mm, 1:9.9. Macro mode. Shutter 1/108. Hand held.

I've avidly followed this excellent forum and decided it was time to seek your input for the first time. My question is whether the image would be improved by cropping the area to the left of the blossom or whether those elements add interest in support of the main subject.

Thanks for any comments you may have.

Image located at:

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), August 26, 1998

Answers

Garry, I have not seen too many first generation digital images. I like the color and the feel of this image. I would keep it as is. A centered flower would make the image less interesting. Good luck.

-- Bahman Farzad (bahman_farzad@mindspring.com), August 26, 1998.

I'd take another picture. This is too busy. DOF needs to be shallower. The background is very distracting and competes with the subject - the bug I think. It's a little small and a bit fuzzy. IMO a little reflector fill would be nice.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), August 26, 1998.

I would say the cropping is unnecessary.

What the image does need, though, is more separation of the foreground from the background and, unlike the previous poster, I would suggest the separation be by tone rather than DOF. A shadow cast on the background would show up the flower and the beetle much more dramatically than softening the background and holding the same tone. I would not, however, make the background black.

Frank

-- Frank Kolwicz (bb389@lafn.org), August 26, 1998.


I agre with Frank. You probably could get a better separation of forground and background by custom printing, if this were a traditional color negative or slide. Since it's digital already there would be no harm doing some digital manipulation. I think the left part of the picture adds interest.

-- (andreas@physio.unr.edu), August 27, 1998.

In my opinion cropping is indeed not necessary, the background's star-like pattern gives emphasis to the main subject (flower + beetle (Chrysomelid?)) en adds depth to an otherwise ordinary flower+beetle picture.

I agree that the overall contrast seems somewhat 'flat', and so are the colors.

I like it. Good 'meadow feel'.

-- Albin Hunia (hunia@dlg.agro.nl), August 27, 1998.



Separation by tone, I agree, is a better suggestion. I think, though, that a black background might be a good composition choice. The beetle, afterall, does have black in it. I'm thinking of a shot from the side more with the beetle silohetted against a black background. I think that the yellow would then really stand out. I've not really experimented with the technique but I think using a flash and a small aperture could do the job. As long as the light from behind the beetle is a couple stops below what is reflecting off of it, then it should record dark. Anybody with any experience care to contribute some ideas on this? Problems with this approach ?

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), August 27, 1998.

Many thanks for your insightful comments. I now better appreciate the weaknesses and possible strengths of the image. I'll try a few digital manipulations to improve what's there and, more importantly, will try for a better shot if I can get the mobile critter in view again.

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), August 28, 1998.

crop...

-- john butler (jbutler@pond.net), August 28, 1998.

I've placed a version with the background darkened (but not black) and the foreground sharpened at http://www.pangea.ca/~schaefer/Yellow_and_Black.jpg which you may want to take a look at. I can see some improvement but am not sure that it has the same 'meadow feel'.

In the back of my mind I can visualize the well illuminated and larger beetle against a black background as Paul has suggested but that would be another story entirely.

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), August 29, 1998.


Garry,

Nice work with the corrected one. I think the dark background as Frank suggested works well.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), August 31, 1998.



In order to make room on my seb site I have removed the original image . As noted, the modified image can still be seen at the indicated address.

Thanks again.

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), October 12, 1998.


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