Let us just say, I like the colours and the background and the flower. I think this flower will pop better if the reflection is right at the bottom and not sidesway as is shown here. Have you tried that? Or maybe that is your style...
Isabel...are you suggesting that I merely need to rotate the image?![]()
At that angle, the reflection does seem a little 'harsh' and distracting.
And yes, if I twist my head so the reflection is more 'underneath' it does somehow appear better?
Try lowering the colour of the reflection without losing the reflection (look at how Mike Buckley does his reflection but yours is more in colour than his so don't lose the colour-- just make it more subtle...it is still too strong...what do you think Geoff? Are we of the same mind here?
Your second version "belongs" anywhere. Very well done!
Yikes! Don't look at my reflections as a guide. I don't know enough about the physics of light to understand reflections. I only know that I don't alter anything in the reflections of my glass photos.
I almost always use a mirror, clear glass or black acrylic to produce the reflection. What material did you use, Chauncey? I ask partly because that might explain the nature of your very nice reflection.
I'm still wondering how you got the reflection in the first version to appear to the right of the flower. My guess is that you rotated the image to make that happen. Am I right?
I too like the rotated version Chancey and think that the presentation is vastly improved. Funny how a tilted composition is highly effective sometimes and just plain unsettling in other instances.
On small thing that you might want to take a look at is the transition between the bottom two leaves and the mirrored background. On my monitor I see an ever so slight white or 'hot' linear area that I think may have to do with sharpening or a selection that is ever so slightly too large in that area.
This is a rather old image that I played with...was/is to be photo-stacked flower>then took the flower and leaves selection and put it onto an image with a very narrow DOF. Was merely a flower/leaves laying on a mirror tile, with camera rotated, on the patio in the morning...nothing fancy.
As it seems to work, excepting the mentioned artifacts, maybe it's worth trying black Plexiglas.![]()