I really like #1 - the division into two areas with the left looking as if it is about to devour the right! Maybe remove the stray leaf(?) at the top right?
Jim,
1. Very interesting. Neat subject and I like how the image is composed. I had a similar reaction to Bob. Feels a bit painfully detailed. What about adding a bit of blur to the straw in the background?
2. I really like this one too. It feels like an intimate, almost internal viewing. Reminds me of an underwater scene. Maybe a bit of edge sharpening?
3. Very nice. Looks a bit soft and I wish you had more DOF, but you cant have everything! The colors and content are interesting and the framing is nice. I would spend a bit more time in post. Consider some vignette as well as sharpening.
1. Love the detail and subject study. Might crop just a tad from the left.
2. Cool angle and lighting. I like the lines here too. Could be a bit sharper.
3. Are we looking at a crop here? Seems a bit soft. Nice job with the framing and colors.
Thanks for the comments. I recently posted some Bodega Bay fog images and did some oversharpening so I intentionally backed off on the sharpening for the 2nd and 3rd images. These had minimal processing and I think the next step would be some selective sharpening and unsharp mask at 20,50. There is also a tedious but effective method for sharpening this sort of image. A fine tip burn brush set to shadows and about 15% works well and is very simple but slow.
The first image was processed using a heavy dose of Topaz. I rarely process any images with this intensity but I liked the effect. I also burned in the shadows behind the straw to make the straw pop even more. I considered cloning out the straw in the upper right but decided I liked it as is.
Plucking off the dead twigs in the upper right would have been a plus. Perhaps darken the background, bump the vibrance and add some selective sharpening and some vignette?
