Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Onion seeds
Got back home to find that the Allium was ripening up nicely. Not the most balanced of photos (but balance is in short supply at the moment), but I like the various components. Can't quite decide whether they add up to a whole though.
Rex: not taken with the ZD 50mm macro :-)
Permalink / posted by and copyright of Colin [auspiciousdragon.net] : 10:23 AM
Comments:
This has qualities that I feel that the last one lacked: it has a continuum of movement with one part flowing into another. It puts me in mind of the pre-revolutionary court in France. The partial shadow across the bottom right gives a coolness and elegance to the whole picture. Any why not the 50mm?!
The centre of interest for me is the cluster of seed pods. They attract my attention due to their 'blackness', texture and symmetry. They are also centred by the radial arrangement of stems on the right.
The LHS of the image doesn't seem to be part of the same composition. It lacks the detail of the right and the bright background doesn't seem to be in harmony with the seed pods.
I guess I'm not the only one that finds it difficult to comment on these macro shots. I enjoy them, but I'm hard pressed to say why.
This composition seems to have three distinct phases. Working from left to right you have highly abstract blurry stems, unopened seed pods in the middle, and the opening seed pods on the far rigt. It reminds me of the French flag.
The point Rex makes about the RHS and LHS seeming to be from different compositions echo my thoughts. The LHS has a chaos thing going on with a great deal more serenity to the right. Again there's the feeling of heat in this one to the left. As a small image presented on the web the discord (if I might use that word) between the left and right is interesting. As a large print I wonder if it would work as well.
The point Rex makes about the RHS and LHS seeming to be from different compositions echo my thoughts. The LHS has a chaos thing going on with a great deal more serenity to the right. Again there's the feeling of heat in this one to the left. As a small image presented on the web the discord (if I might use that word) between the left and right is interesting. As a large print I wonder if it would work as well.
The LHS is too distracting for me. I don't think it adds to the shot in any way. I want to see much more of the LHS as the direction it takes my eye is out of the frame. Not too sure that as a whole the RHS is strong enough to make this work.
This picture was fairly much the odd one out in the series I did on this plant (for the reasons variously stated above about the composition). It did make my final cut (of 20) and John E at least likes it, but I think that the separate components do fight with each other too much. Perhaps when I have some fresh plants in 10 - 11 months time I could so some more with the effect that I got here on the left (as the right hand side is much more representative of the existing series).
I hadn't seen the flag, Matt, but now that I have it is almost impossible to see it any other way :-)
Auspicious, it's interesting how that happens. An interpretation imprints itself on your brain, and then it won't let go. I only saw the flag because I'm studying French in my spare time.
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The LHS of the image doesn't seem to be part of the same composition. It lacks the detail of the right and the bright background doesn't seem to be in harmony with the seed pods.
This composition seems to have three distinct phases. Working from left to right you have highly abstract blurry stems, unopened seed pods in the middle, and the opening seed pods on the far rigt. It reminds me of the French flag.
I hadn't seen the flag, Matt, but now that I have it is almost impossible to see it any other way :-)