The image I've added to this blog post isn't mine, it belongs to Dave Merrigan and I'm using it with his permission. Dave spotted this dragonfly but was pressed for time so he simply lit it with an LED flashlight off to camera right. When I first saw this photo there was only one word that came to mind:
Brilliant!
What didn't enter my mind was any silly notion that the photo doesn't look natural just because the background is dark. I appreciated the image for what it is: Well lit, well composed, a shot I'd want to print large or save to my desktop as wallpaper. An image that's art and not just another "catalog shot"...
There's this thing called a box and if you don't step out of it and think about your work and where you're going you'll just end up producing the same old run of the mill images that everyone else can, and is, taking...
3 comments:
I have to agree with your assessment of the image. In fact I find that the dark background simply emphasizes the subject. We are not that interested in the rest of the leaf. Usually the very narrow dof doesn't allow the photographer to provide that much context anyway and I find that I have stopped looking for it in this macro world. If I were looking for something to offer in terms of a critique, I would mention that the dof does not include the eyes, they are a little soft. As someone who has yet to capture a dragonfly head properly, I can commiserate.
Great blog, BTW. Really enjoying it.
Cheers,
Peter
Thanks Peter!
To me the eyes looked good, I think that the resizing of the photo (probably done by a script on Flickr) is responsible for the lack of sharpness.
Yeah, on second look, perhaps I should put on glasses. Probably just jealous.
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