Another example for lighting that would be irreversibly destroyed if some automatic histogram correction were applied. Especially the histogram "corrections" built-in to modern cameras are a real poison for this kind of lighting, turning it to some normal distribution of colors that is simply too ... weak.
This one was taken with a manual correction of 2/3 EV down for enhancing the blue background, which itself then lets the golden hues of the plants shine even warmer.
Hi Ken and first of all thanks a bunch for the comment that deserves the name!
Indeed, I didn't solve the problems perfectly. It was the color contrast that took the greatest importance in my mind and made me shoot too quickly before thinking of anything else.
The blue border, well, I simply like such borders that dissolve into the picture on one side. Don't ask me why - perhaps strange taste, I don't know.
My intention was to let the photo gain depth through the usage of the sequence out-of-focus-near, in-focus, out-of focus-far, but at the same time to keep the projection of all the three plants at the same plane back in the background. This is why I decided to line them up with the darker blue vertical lines that form this plane at "infinity". So, I thought, that the opposition between that sequence of depth and the plane at the background should create some kind of "hidden suspense" that contradicts the calmness of the photo.
Thank you very much again for opening my eyes through your observations!
The color contrasts are very nice. However, I don't think you've solved all of the exposure problems, with a significant part of the only in-focus seed pod having blocked highlights.
I don't understand the double border. The black one is fine, but the inner blue one blends into the background rendering the border almost invisible, and it creates on odd cutoff of the stalk running off the upper left top. Instead ending at the black border, it ends at the blue one, making it appear to be cutoff in mid-air.
While I see potential in this subject, I don't find this particular composition interesting. Personally, I think I'd rather see more of a close up on just one of the items, really bringing out the color contract, or more of them, emphasizing the graphic image of the stalks against the background. Just 8 of them don't seem to be enough to do this for me, maybe since all but one are out of focus. Often one item will "pop out" from the others in the background, but in this case, the others are not really the background, but part of the subject, so I think it may detract having them all out of focus. Also, the small piece intruding on the left edge should go, and maybe the pod with no stalk at the bottom as well.
I notice that there's some vertical pattern in the background that is possibly conflicting with the vertical pattern of the main subject. This can be a plus or a minus depending on how it's handled. What do you want to illustrate about these two patterns, if anything? The three verticals approximately line up with the three most prominent stalks, which might be the best placement for them. Was that your intention? If so, I think I like it that way (I don't see a better placement).
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