Some thoughts please.......

I enjoy photographing flowers and plants and often try for a bit of a dreamy look. Short focus range, different angles etc. plus a Helios 44-2 for its quirky bokeh.
I keep looking at this one from a few days ago..... for me, there's something there that draws me but when I analyse it I think "Why?"
There's a pretty flower looking slightly soft with some attractive light across it and it shows well against the dark background. However, that's about it really so do the other bits of interest around the edges lead your eye away and off the photo or do they add something and make you look for longer? The bokeh hides any other detail but perhaps it makes you look deeper in to see what's there? Or is it, really, just quite a dull little photo?
Now I've uploaded it and looked, I notice it's rather darker than my copy so the highlights are much reduced and it's quite a lot duller - shame.

I would very much appreciate some thoughts please.

A pretty picture but to me I think it could be cropped using the bottom left of the image. The large mainly empty background is a bit of a distraction.

Hope you don't mind but I think this......
......is the actual picture, for me anyway.

Others will have their own interpretations of course......

Hi Stan, Hi Michael,

Thanks for your thoughts. I can see what you mean by the crop tidying it up somewhat and leaving the bud in at the bottom seems to give it some balance. I wonder if the 'not seeing it' comes from when the initial image isn't quite what you're trying for and its then difficult to see another way round to make something with the shot you've got.

Regards
Robert

If you remove all the flowers so you're left with the rather beautiful background, you have a nice image. Seriously, blow it up and frame it.
You're right about that lens
The flower is too sparse and the blown highlight ruins it.
Personally, I don't care for the crop above.
Alternatively, if you have more to play with, then emphasise the spindly flower by isolating it further and placing it at the bottom of the (now tall) frame. Just an idea.

Agree with cropping out some of the stuff in the top right corner, but the square crop is a crop too far for me. I think you need some 'negative space' around the flower.

Hi Mark and thanks for your comments. Please tell me more about what you mean by "Alternatively, if you have more to play with, then emphasise the spindly flower by isolating it further and placing it at the bottom of the (now tall) frame. Just an idea" as it sounds interesting but I'm not sure what you mean.

Will, do you think the negative space around should be kept at its present level of detail or lightened up a bit to increase the level of interest it might reveal?

I often make tall crops with the subject way down in the bottom quarter.
Sometimes I have to 'create' more canvas to achieve this.

I would try taking michaelblue's crop plus a little more off the left for a rectangular shape then burn in the flower bud to push it into the background. The long stem and flower on its own would make a good picture.

I did try a wee crop Robert, and yes, I did lighten the shadows up a touch. But hopefully not so much that it kills the mood.


I feel it still needs more room to the left though.

Have you tried this

Nice shot,my preference is a more portrait style on these shots and also isolating the subject more . But that's just my opinion and preference.