Hi! I've been into photography for about 5 months now. I started 365 in late July and I'm really enjoying it! I've been too shy to post anything for critique until now, but here goes! Any advice is helpful! This is right outside my door, so retaking is an option. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. Also editing advice (particularly cropping) would be great. Thanks in advance :)
Three suggestions:
1. reshoot to remove the wooden thing in the lower left.
2. reshoot with clear blue sky to contrast the green leaves while using f2.8-f5.6.
3. reshoot usig cloudy WB to get better green in the leaves.
It's suffering from cropping and exposure problems - I would have either made a lot more of the wooden structure, or cropped it out altogether! I'm not keen on the square format either, so I would crop to landscape or portrait. If I had to work with the image as it appears here, I'd go landscape and crop the top third off
The bright sky is affecting the exposure and making the leaves too dark. Either shoot in manual and expose for the subject, not the background, or invest in some grad filters which will help with this problem. Fill-in flash might have helped too, although the subject may be a bit too close. If you've got a RAW file you could easily fix this in LightRoom
This is a really neat perspective, I like how you've approached the plant from an unexpected angle. That really adds interest to the shot!
I think that I would shoot a little closer or at a slightly different angle to take out the wooden bit in the corner, it distracts from your subject somewhat. Ideally, every element in the shot would have an identifiable purpose and add something to it.
I do like how the tree branches in the background and the leaves frame the flowering plant.
I don't know if the backlighting is a stylistic choice or if you'd rather be rid of it - if you'd rather be rid of it, I'd consider shooting at a slightly different angle, in a slightly different light, or at least spot-metering to expose for the flower. You'd lose detail in the sky, but that's the trade-off. You could also try using a reflector to give yourself some fill light to work with (it doesn't have to be fancy, it could even be a white sheet of paper!).
If it's a stylistic choice, I think that it would be more interesting reshot when there's a setting sun in the shot for some nice intentional lens-flare to add some drama to the backlit effect.
I'd also crop to landscape or portrait, but that's just me - I don't tend to care for square cropping.
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1. reshoot to remove the wooden thing in the lower left.
2. reshoot with clear blue sky to contrast the green leaves while using f2.8-f5.6.
3. reshoot usig cloudy WB to get better green in the leaves.
This all can be done in one reshoot.
The bright sky is affecting the exposure and making the leaves too dark. Either shoot in manual and expose for the subject, not the background, or invest in some grad filters which will help with this problem. Fill-in flash might have helped too, although the subject may be a bit too close. If you've got a RAW file you could easily fix this in LightRoom
I think that I would shoot a little closer or at a slightly different angle to take out the wooden bit in the corner, it distracts from your subject somewhat. Ideally, every element in the shot would have an identifiable purpose and add something to it.
I do like how the tree branches in the background and the leaves frame the flowering plant.
I don't know if the backlighting is a stylistic choice or if you'd rather be rid of it - if you'd rather be rid of it, I'd consider shooting at a slightly different angle, in a slightly different light, or at least spot-metering to expose for the flower. You'd lose detail in the sky, but that's the trade-off. You could also try using a reflector to give yourself some fill light to work with (it doesn't have to be fancy, it could even be a white sheet of paper!).
If it's a stylistic choice, I think that it would be more interesting reshot when there's a setting sun in the shot for some nice intentional lens-flare to add some drama to the backlit effect.
I'd also crop to landscape or portrait, but that's just me - I don't tend to care for square cropping.
Nice work!