Bluebonnet Sky

[Meadster]

This photo of Bluebonnets near my home here in North Texas is fast becoming one of my personal favorites. I'd love to get a feel for what you folks think of the composition with regards to the amount of foreground foliage. All honest critiques are welcomed! Thanks in advance.



The EXIF:
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 42.5 mm
Exposure: +0.30
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

[mclean8]

hi, my first attempt at critique here, hopefully it is helpful.

i think your concern regarding the folliage at the bottom is justified. i think i would like to see the sky a bit more dominating, the flowers seeming to look up towards the sky, rather than growing from the ground.

technically well executed though, right level of saturation for me. i might have erred on the side of more contrast.

[Gulpa]

I think that there's the right amount of foliage in the front, but you should change your depth of field if you want a sharper image in the middle.

Otherwise - it's a really nice photo... I love the colors and the scenery!

[mechanic1300]

I think the green foilage makes a good contrast with the blue flowers but try halving the foilage so that most of the bare stems are not visible. Especially the clump of stems just in from the right. It does need the green but probably not as much. Hope this helps

[ebeard2802]

Wow! That's a lot of intense blue for one photo! I love it!

Critiques: I reckon I can see what mechanic is saying about cropping out the green foliage at the bottom. It kind of creates a limit to the bluebonnets where if the foliage is cut out, it looks more like a neverending field of bluebonnets. I don't think that crop is absolutely necessary though, as I really like the composition as it is. I like the curved ridgeline cutting through the center of the photo like that, and the sky looks great.

Nice work! Thanks for sharing!

[tvoelcker]

The green foilage in the foreground is fine in my opnion. I think it helps to make the blue pop.
The curved line of the hill is a nice touch as opposed to a straight horizonal line.
There is just enough activity in the sky to keep it from being bland.
The bluebonnets appear to be just a tad dark and tend to merge into the background a bit creating kind of a flat look.
However, I still find it to be a nice capture. Thanks for sharing.

[karuna01]

You might want to try to get on the ground level and looking up. You would get good DOF, defining the background and foreground. Try a few shot at different height levels and angles, you might be surprised.
You subject uis good, because of the flower colour contrast with that of the sky. 50/50, Half Flowers / Half Sky. Try it.

[Meadster]

Thanks a lot for all the useful feedback! I 'll be tweaking the contrast of the flowers & making some minor cropping changes. I'll post the changes when i'm done.

[ricklumpas]

Originally Posted by Meadster

This photo of Bluebonnets near my home here in North Texas is fast becoming one of my personal favorites. I'd love to get a feel for what you folks think of the composition with regards to the amount of foreground foliage. All honest critiques are welcomed! Thanks in advance.

I like the color choice for the background: sky blue- complimenting the color of the subject. There is no problem with the amount of foreground foliage. But I see it sharper than my Bluebonnets which is the subject of your photo.

I wish you could have the horizon a bit straight and try higher level shot.