-- Deborah Davis (debvis@aol.com), September 24, 1998

Answers

Very cool! The color combination is great.

The highlights are a tad hot but in my experience I'd say that's a limitation of the scanner and let it go at that.

I think the branch is a major distraction. If someone was with you they could have moved it aside (non destructively ;>) as you took the photo.

The foreground elements at the bottom left "should" be sharp, but that's a personal bias.

Overall, very nice. What part of the country do you find such things in? Here in the NW we have "Cobra Lilies"...

Keith

-- Keith Clark (ClarkPhotography@spiritone.com), September 24, 1998.

A very nice image. It looks like a painting. The branch makes the composition more interesting and I would not remove it. The only thing I would do is to crop it tighter from the sides and the bottom. The bottom part takes away from the beauty and simplicity of the image. Good luck.

-- Bahman Farzad (cpgbooks@mindspring.com), September 24, 1998.

I'll have to chime in as anti-branch, but I think that overall the image is very nice. I agree with Keith about the fuzzy corner. Maybe cropping up 10% would help? Also, I might have tried for a closer picture (i.e., making one or two plants fill the frame), but that's just me. Did you take any like that? If so, I would like to see them. Keep up the good work!

--Joe

-- Joe Cheatwood (cheatwoo@ufl.edu), September 24, 1998.

For me the composition misses the mark in that is too busy for my taste. I think the composition should try to emphasize the elegent form of the pitcher plant. I can visualize a shot close in on the top stem of one or three of the pitcher plant with backlighting creating a translucent effect showing the veining and emphasizing the form with the negative space behind the plants a dark colour ( black perhaps). For me, the picture plants in this composition with the other green elements have no more special status.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), September 24, 1998.

Another lovely picture. The range of greens in the pitchers contrasted with the cool water tones is very nice. My guess would be that these are Sarracenia flava, known as trumpets or biscuit-flowers. I've seen them growing on the coastal plain of N. Carolina - were these in that region?

-- 3-pig Pete (peter.may@stetson.edu), September 24, 1998.

I love the colors! Beautiful.

Unfortunately, my eye doesn't find anything to settle on to look at for more than a moment. It's almost like none of the pitcher plants are perfectly in focus, but maybe it's just that they all compete for attention.

The one sticking out almost horizontally to the right is very interesting. I don't know if you could have gotten close enough to isolate it alone or with the shorter one just below it.

-- Brent Hutto (BHutto@InfoAve.Net), September 24, 1998.

It's an "almost". The horizontal branch to me completely spoils it and I would wish for more DOF. In a busy picture like this EVERYTHING should be sharp for a graphic-like effect (including the grass at the left very bottom and on the pond right very top.

-- (andreas@physio.unr.edu), September 26, 1998.

These plants make for a very interesting subject, with their unusual shape and beautiful color. Unfortunately, the surrounding vegetation is distracting and the branch is a strong enough element that it draws my eye away from the plants. Perhaps you could have shot from a different angle and eliminated some of the distracting surroundings. I realize this might have been difficult. Or, perhaps you could have cropped in the camera more closely and isolated just a few of the plants to make them stronger graphic elements.

-- Barbara Kelly (kellys@alaska.net), September 26, 1998.

This image shows a very beautiful subject. I too feel that the branch across the top should be avoided and overall the picture is too busy.

-- Shun Cheung (shun@worldnet.att.net), September 26, 1998.

I have to say that this is an excelent photograph of pitcher plants and the ENVIROMENT they live in!!! Pitcher plants live in swamps and marsh lands, were there is a lot of surrounding vegetation, like branches.. There are a lot of pitcher plant photos that are presenting the plant itself, like in the cover of David Attenboroughs book "the Private Life of Plants", where a toad is waiting in the pitch for insects. Nice to see photographs taken by people who know how to capture the spirit of swamps! This photo could have fitted nicely in to the Attenboroughs book!!!

deborah, you have a very unique style and you should stick to it.

-- Tatu Laitinen (sara.laitinen@dlc.fi), September 28, 1998.