I shot this outside of my apartment. Our neighbor had a wagon set up with flowers in it and I thought it looked great. The birdcage really makes a nice backdrop.
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So, the #1 rule of photography is simplicity. Make your image as simple as it needs to be, but none simpler.
You have to think of shot as though you were painting it by hand... like, you are "adding" each element of the composition. Here, there is not real reason to "add" that hose to the left, or that red thing to the right. They are just distractions and do nothing for the photograph. Every element of the composition has to add to the photo, otherwise it detracts from it. That selective-ness and attention to detail is what sets a photographer's photograph apart from a regular guy's snapshot. You received a low score on this image because it looks too much like a snapshot, doesn't look like enough thought was put into it.
Having said all that, I like the sharp focus and I like the depth of field effects... there are some interesting things about the shot, but ultimately, a 'snap-shot-ish' shot of some rather unremarkable flowers will not hold the visual interest of many people.
I don't mean to sound harsh here, it's just that I saw from your posting in a thread that people were not giving you enough feedback on your shots, so I thought I would go ahead and give you an honest assessment of what I thought about your first entry.
So, the #1 rule of photography is simplicity. Make your image as simple as it needs to be, but none simpler.
You have to think of shot as though you were painting it by hand... like, you are "adding" each element of the composition. Here, there is not real reason to "add" that hose to the left, or that red thing to the right. They are just distractions and do nothing for the photograph. Every element of the composition has to add to the photo, otherwise it detracts from it. That selective-ness and attention to detail is what sets a photographer's photograph apart from a regular guy's snapshot. You received a low score on this image because it looks too much like a snapshot, doesn't look like enough thought was put into it.
Having said all that, I like the sharp focus and I like the depth of field effects... there are some interesting things about the shot, but ultimately, a 'snap-shot-ish' shot of some rather unremarkable flowers will not hold the visual interest of many people.
I don't mean to sound harsh here, it's just that I saw from your posting in a thread that people were not giving you enough feedback on your shots, so I thought I would go ahead and give you an honest assessment of what I thought about your first entry.
A great idea - these are such pretty little delicate flowers. The harsh downward perspective, the brown dirt using up valuable pixels, it all really brings down the score. A closer crop on only the flowers having the one dead center be the centerpiece and the out of focus flowers framing it would have made a great image IMO.