Coulda, woulda, shoulda in Photography . . .

[flamin lib]

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This is almost a keeper. Went to the trouble of setting up the soft box off-camera to drop the background into shadow and spritzed the small Oxalis blooms with a mister. If I'd just paid more attention and snipped the out of focus, past-its-prime bloom from the foreground I would be happy with it. Unfortunately because it over-laps the main subject I can't remove it in post processing. At least not at my skill level.

Sometimes I look but don't see. Have to be more aware I guess.

[Phoenix61]

1. I like it.

Instead of a photo of a beautiful flower you have a photo that tells a story.

[3Hotdogs]

2. No. The ought'a focus flower completes the picture.

maybe --- if it was replaced with something else, a garden tool or something that would belong with the theme.

[flamin lib]

4. Yeah, I agree that it needs something to balance the main subject.

I'm just not lovin' the spent flower in the foreground. Odd numbers seem to be more visually interesting than a a static balance. Perhaps if the same blossom was in the background behind the main subject. That's something I could have easily done and would perhaps complete the image better.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. This photo is perfect.

The spent blossom is in the right spot to show the transition of life. And it's not all that spent, either.

You're being way too hard on yourself, my dear flamin lib.

This photo is perfect!

[flamin lib]

5. Never hard enough. My instructor in college told us that he was going to demand far more from us

than was realistic.

'Because,' he said, 'once you graduate and go into the world to make a living you'll compromise to get the work out the door and get paid. Once there you'll sacrifice 20% of what I demand of you. And you'll still be 20% better than anybody else out there.'

When people like your failures that's a good sign but we should still be able to see them and work at finding that last 20%.