Thistles in the twilght

[ionian]

This is one of my more successful shots on 500px, for all that means in the real world I realised I hadn't posted it here for comments and suggestions, which are always welcome.

[Wavelength]

Excellent and very creative... a possible variation is a vertical frame, avoiding the dark part on the RHS

[Shadowman]

Interesting capture, very nice.

[flashback]

Simon, great concept and well executed. A couple of thoughts on my part:
I think the image might be a bit stronger if you could bring out the stems and thistle heads a bit more, also maybe clone out the two bright spots on the RHS and you could maybe crop a bit off of the top. It seems like there could be a tighter crop in there but that would be your call. Over all thought a very good image.

[Ziggy]

Very nice.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image, I would clone the bottom left corner though

[John 2]

That's well seen and a nice composition Simon. Might be worth adding a bit more contrast to the mid-tones. Should make the thistles stand out a bit more against a darker BG.

[ionian]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Having been relatively happy with the initial image, I did wonder how I would feel about comments on it - I usually post images before I've published them elsewhere. I'm really grateful for the constructive feedback and I've gone away to work on it again.

First, I like the darker space on the right - it was a conscious decision to leave this in, to give a natural off-centre framing - but I agree that it was too big. I've changed to a 5x7 ratio to lessen this space. I've also increased contrast in the mid-tones, cloned out the mess in the bottom left corner and tidied the bright spots. Then, because I was playing in photoshop anyway, I added a basic frame and a light HP filter to bring out the thistles some more.

What do you think?

[John 2]

I like that Simon. The crop was a good idea. It works.

[bnnrcn]

I like the edit But I find the black frame too heavy, I would remove it.

[mugge]

I prefer the first image. In the edit the stems and the heads are clearly defined whereas in the first image there is an aura about the thistles that I find appealing. In the edited version I think that the left bottom corner and also the right side are too dark. I really like the first image though.
Cheers Ole

[IzzieK]

I rather like the edit better and it is your choice to leave that black "thingie" if you want. I just think it will look better as a square shot. Anyway, that taken cared of, what is the stem blue? Just curious.

[ionian]

Thanks all.

Ole - I think there is a balance between the right contrast and that dreamy feel in the first image, maybe I have taken it a bit far - not sure.

Izzie - the image uses split toning to bring out the twilight colours, and it has shifted the whites towards the blue side of spectrum. I think it works ok because it matches the pallette in the image, but that's why they have a blue tint.

[IzzieK]

Thanks Simon, I will remember split toning as I have not used that before...

[NorthernFocus]

Nice use of backlighting on the fuzzy thistle. If you'd have taken a step to the left and shot the subject backlit against the shadowed BG it would really have popped.