* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #788 / Revived #008 on 2023 05 24 *

These are so interesting, especially the last one (love the name too) of the red bokeh ball caught in the grip of twisted broken wire.

I totally get what Mike has said here and agree with what he says about the revised image, but I am still torn between the new and original version. The disconnected character, who was jammed up against the edge of the frame and looking out, breaking the rules of harmonious composition, seems even quirkier and more of an outsider in the first version than in the more pictorially balanced second version. The situation is explained more clearly in the reworked version, but is that a good thing? I am undecided at the moment and could live with either.

Pete

The quality of the light and the colours are remarkable and well worth scanning. As is so often the case, the beauty of the plant is enhanced by its imperfections and without the drying and dying leaves, the image would lose the contrasting brown colour and the contrast between the living and dying parts of the plant. The bottom is tightly cropped, but actually, I don't think it detracts, as we are used to seeing plants "cropped" by the soil and there is still plenty to see as shown.
Excellent image.

Pete

The complementary colours of orange/yellow and blue make this attractive, although it is a shame they go a bit green in the transition.
I'm not sure about the fences. They almost zig-zag as a leading line, but not quite, and so form a bit of a visual barrier into the image. However, they are so thin and the nearer fence so low in the frame, that they don't ruin the shot.

Pete

Actually, that is a creative answer to your 10:10 challenge, with your playful use of focus and the lens characteristeics and introducing the golden bead as a focus point.

Pete

Showing the wormholes in the apple is a clever idea and well executed.

What are the fruit in the second? The stems seem too long for apples. In any case the image seems to be coloured with an orange wash over the exposed flesh abd a blue-green over the background. However it has been done, it is quite effective and gives it a depth and also a dream-like quality.

Pete

Many thanks for your in-depth analysis and feedback!

The original shows the lorikeet playing peek-a-boo through the branches, although a bird that coloueful must find it impossible to hide!. The branches are a bit busy, and the leaf top left is a distraction, so I find Mike's suggested crop to be a good idea.

Pete

"Photography" is an extremely broad category. I have given up trying to define it and what might be considered a photograph. With images like these I stop thinking about the process and consider simply my reaction to shapes and colours.
Number One. Space/time/the universe and all that. I like the soft focus of the planet like orb as compared to the sharp edges and complex detail of the shape emerging from the right. Kubrick, then Star Wars accustomed us to large objects sliding into view when approaching distant planets or similar. distant planets. All the web like matter suugets threat to the distant, soft object.
Number Two is more difficult. I like the red ball that seems to be in a force field between the points. The hot red goes along with this response. The whole image reminds me of a Miro painting. I like it. something to do with the fuzzy v sharp and the hot red v blue/greys.

I have waited long to comment on this image, and now Pete has beaten me to it, articulating what I also felt.
I do not mind (at all) the unconventional composition of the original image: the lone main subject close to the image's edge gives us a beautiful speculation about what is just outside the frame: is there a whole other band there, and is he conducting? Or is he just isolating himself for a moment and stretching his arms, maybe nervous because his band is about to perform on this apparent jamboree. I like that ambiguity.
The revised and AI enhanced image (though technically well done) loses that magic of uncertainty. Now there is just empty grass in front of him.

Moreover, I really liked the square crop: it had an internal logic of lines and tensions. That unravels in the wider version.

The very tight crop on the bird's face is an excellent idea.
Almost everything that got deleted here, was a distraction.
But most importantly: this crop made me realize what fine feather detail there is on that head, and also it made me remark the catchlight in the eye, creating a sense of the bird making eye contact.
In the uncropped image, I had not remarked those details at all.

I wasn't sure about photo two either. Looking again, I think Lou has created the Orpple, a fruit that combines the best of oranges and apples. It will be immensely popular with fruit salad makers and Lou will make a fortune.

Some people are symmetrically orientated and some aren't. The symmetrically orientated are driven nuts by things like earrings that don't match. Vice versa for the other group. I think it is something like left and right handedness. Me, I'm firmly in the non symmetrical group (unless the symmetry occurs accidentally in something like a landscape.)
All of which means that this image simply doesn't appeal to me while I am quite sure it will be different for those on the other side. This is a personal idiosyncrasy.

Has Lou replied yet? It looks like a pluot - a real life hybrid of apricot and plum, quite delicious 😃

The cropped version and comments about the resulting improvements are worth the price of admission to this week's thread 😁 Fantastic educational moment for me as interested observer.

Agree, Linda.
That is what we are here for.
It's the interaction that creates a unique value.
Roel

Thanks. I don't think I'll change how I print this image. Square with visual tension is how I saw it at the beginning, and though the image with the additional AI elements is appealing to me, I like to go with my initial take if I can.

Mike, yes it is a far better view. I had made a couple of identical crops more or less the same size as yours to observe the effects of some tweaks. But to me I could see some graininess and softness that I didn't like. The one or two passable shots I have of him feeding are even more cluttered with branches and old seed pods.