tattered flag - please criticise

vonnagy · Jan 5, 2004

Just a couple of questions:
1. whats the first reaction you get when you look at the photo
2. personally, would you prefer the flowers to be in more focus or do you think it adds to photo?

When I first saw this shot, I said damn, the bloody flower is out of focus! However the more i looked at it the more i liked it. I took this shot when I was living in south florida, this was about 1 or 2 weeks after Sept. 11. The little flag is was probably attached to some car but that wind tore off as I had found it near the side of the road. It was taken with a yaschica mat camera, I hardly knew how to take photos with the bugger! Thank god there were step by step instructions on the internet.

Please honestly comment, your likes/dislikes and where it has room for improvement- i really want know as I think this has become my favourite shot.

ksmattfish · Jan 5, 2004

My eyes keep jumping back and forth between the flower and the flag like it's two seperate photos. I find it distracting as is. Maybe if I say it larger...

terri · Jan 5, 2004

I like it! I appreciate what you're saying about the softness of the flower adding to the image. To me the main subject of the image is the flag and centrally it is briar-sharp. The fact that it, too, gets softer toward the bottom right, leads me to think it looks like intentional mid-frame focus, very short DOF, really, since a good bit of the flower is sharp, as are the droplets around it, then the focus of the whole image falls off. I think it naturally leads the eye to the flag.

I like the composition, too. For feeling like you were fumbling with a new camera at the time, I'd say you did very well here. Very appealing image.

bogleric · Jan 5, 2004

ksmattfish said:
My eyes keep jumping back and forth between the flower and the flag like it's two seperate photos. I find it distracting as is. Maybe if I say it larger...

I must also agree that I find this photo distracting as my eyes jump from the flower to the flag. I think some greater depth would have helped immensely as I also get a very flat feeling from this picture.

mrsid99 · Jan 5, 2004

I'm curious as to what it would look like in color.

ksmattfish · Jan 5, 2004

I meant to say "what if I saw it larger.

Thorniest Whisper · Jan 6, 2004

keep thinking I wish I could move that flag and see more of the picture. I kept going back to it to see if something else would strike me. I also wonder what it would look like in colour. It is an awesome photo, it's just I like the nature aspect more than the flag.

vonnagy · Jan 7, 2004

cool thanks for your responses!
I have always wanted to get a photographers opinion on this, and i got it!.. i appreciate your feedback. I've always got a strong response when i showed friends the photo, but i didn't like it at first but it grew on me. I can see where you guys are coming from.

sorry mr sid, i actually took this in b & w roll film, not my usual conversion from digital to black & white. I think this should would work (or not according to some opinions) in colour too.

Cheers for that!