Grapes

Picture_Newport

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22 Jun 2009 - 11:50 AM

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Nice chioce of subject.

Despite the Grapes being a similar tone and colour to the background they still stand out as being separate and the diagonal the Grapes are set at is nice, I do feel you cpould have gone for more of a diagonal though, perhaps with the bottom grape being in the bottom left corner of the frame and the brown stem being in the top right corner.

I am struggling to find the point of focus though, it does not leap out at you (which I am surprised at because looking at your PF you seem to like macro work and your focusing is spot on in your other piccies). I think you could have maybe been bolder and gone in closer and concentrated on a single grape rather than the bunch, either that or have tried to get the entire bunch in sharp focus with only the background out of focus.

Lovely colours and I like the little highlights on each of the grapes.

Paul

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Fishnet (e2 Member)

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22 Jun 2009 - 10:45 PM

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OK, here goes my critique, never done it before so ....

I love the colour green but I would prefer a darker background to make the grapes stand out more, not necessarily a black background or anything but just a few shades darker than it is already.

I love the fact you've used natural daylight and not an on camera flash, I have such a hatred for on camera flash I feel my blood physically boil when I see it in photos.

I feel the grapes are a bit 'soft' without much texture and no definite sharpness of focus, maybe wetting them first to catch the light and brighten them up could be an idea and I'd also like to see you go in a bit closer too or else change the composition of the grapes rather than having them straight down the middle in a line.

Hope that was OK, please don't hate me!

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pamelajean (Critique Team)

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22 Jun 2009 - 10:46 PM

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Sorry, Sandra, I nearly passed this by, which is what I often do if I don't particularly like a picture, which is not a good thing, and you know that I usually say what I think. I feel bad about that. Then I saw that it was in the buddies category, so here goes. I, like Paul, was looking for a point of focus, but it looks to be all very much the same. There is definitely a small depth of field because the back grapes are blurred. I don't think the background does it any favours because it's the same colour as the grapes. I'd like to have seen some good light on this, with some bouncing off the fruit and making them shine, giving them some life. There is some there, but it doesn't do the trick. I feel that if these were placed on, say, some black velvet, and shot at an attractive angle, the impact would be improved. I still feel like apologising for being so negative. I think a mod option would have been good, by the way.
Pamela.

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blackbird

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23 Jun 2009 - 10:13 PM

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Hello sandra,
You have already had some good critiques and I will try not to repeat the others.
Looking at your portfolio I can see that you are already very adept at macro work and you have some very good flower and butterfly images. I get the impression that you tried to do something a bit different for the buddy upload but didn't move far enough out of your comfort zone, by that I mean your subject is different but the approach is similar to your previous work - that's easy for me to say but I'm also trying to do something different to my usual style, and I know it's much harder to actually do satisfactorily.
You could perhaps try getting in closer with a wider aperture to get a more impressionist view of your subject, or alternatively try a more 'studio' approach by controlling the lighting with reflectors and using a tripod to maximise dof.
I hope that provides some food for thought
merille

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GazW (e2 Member)

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25 Jun 2009 - 4:06 PM

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There are a number of "buddy" crits already so I'll do mine without reading them so that I'm not influenced.

Anyway, I like the idea but it doesn't quite work for me. since the grapes don't stand out enough I think it's because the background is too similar and the depth of field either too small or too large. What I'm trying to say (I think !) is that a smaller depth of field would have emphasised a few of the grapes with the rest fading out whilst a larger dof would have kept most of the bunch in focus against the background. Either would have worked better for me.

Also, the line is quite right, perhaps a slightly more diagonal composition would have led the eye better.

Finally, if you could just clone out the tiny distraction in the top right ?

Having said all of that - I still like it and am being ultra-critical. Hope that's OK ?

Gaz

PS just read the other crits - they seem to say much the same only they've phrased it better !!

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tigertimb

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25 Jun 2009 - 8:15 PM

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Hi Sandra
I'll try not to rehash some of the exisiting "buddy" critique; although I think I agree with most of it with the exception of the green-on-green which I personally really like as it's still distinctive enough that the grapes stand out.
My big question to you would be "what were you trying to achieve" with this image. With the grapes central and cropped fairly tight, all I get is "here's a bunch of grapes" which I think is where the others are saying it's missing a point of focus. A little bit of play with the DOF, POV or composition could have lifted the shot entirely and given it a bit more of a story to tell.
But none of this is to say that it's a bad shot and it's not a critique I'd level at your shots in general either - almost as though you uploaded a shot to give us something to say

Tim

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