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I really like what I am seeing here. Composition wise, I would like it better if there was not quite so much of a triangle between the feathers, For example if the one to the right was a bit up or down from *center*. Maybe that's just me - but I like it when the composition isn't quite so formal. For example, I really like it that the bottom feather isn't vertically aligned with the top one. It's grand though as it is - really just debating about the icing on the cake...

A charming gentle, fragile photo Matthew. I would prefer a somewhat less monotonous but still non-distracting background (very faint bokeh circles?)

I wouldn't presume to critique something like this until I tried it myself.

Love it.

matthew wrote:

And where's your internet spirit? Knowledge and experience isn't required as long as you have a keyboard.

Hey, with an invitation like that I qualify to offer my opinion (even though I've never tried a shot like this myself either).

I really like the idea behind this shot Matthew and I think it's worth pursuing, but as it stands I feel it's pulling me in two conflicting directions.
On the one hand I see feathers falling which evokes a very light airy feeling of movement.
But on the other hand I see a big heavy black area with three items spread out in a fairly static arragement, which evokes somewhat of a heavy, flat, static feeling.

While it's great you have tried to remove distractions from the background, I think Pavel's idea of a nicely blurred background would remove the "weight" from the photo and give it depth.  This would give visual clues that the feathers are in fact falling through space (not just sitting on a black table for example).  It doesn't have to be a white background, just not solid black.

I'm not quite sure how you've lit this scene, but personally I think backlighting the feathers might give a really nice airy effect and make the feathers seem a bit more weightless and floaty.  Some dust particles suspended in the air might also help in this regard (not sure if that's a look you're after though, but dust would look great backlit too).

If the arrangement of the feathers were a bit more dynamic (ie off-centre and a bit more random) then it would also give it more flow and movement.

But it's easy for me to sit here and critisize when I don't know how many variations you tried before you got to this point, and I don't know how easy it is to shoot feathers moving past your camera.  I can certainly appreciate what you've done here already.  Great job.

Now you've got me thinking about this shot and I want to try it out when I get home!

I like the flow of the feathers in #2 - and the less formal arrangement makes it feel more natural IMO. Great work.

Last edited by Toad (Mar 18, 2009 09:15)

Hey Matt,

I gave this a try a couple of days ago when I was out, but I used natural light instead of strobes.

Unfortunately the feathers I had were from an old doona and were fairly scrappy, and the wind was blowing a gale so I had great difficulty controlling their movement, focussing on them, or even freezing their movement in the light I was working with.
But the point of my exercise was to test out the lighting, so you'll just have to excuse the blurry mess that is shot #1 and that I'm actually holding the feather still in the 2nd shot.  Just look at the lighting and the background.

Both shots were backlit by the sun with just the translucency of the feathers catching the sun to illuminate them.  In the first shot I deliberately included the sun and a lot of flare to give that particular atmosphere, while the second shot was more about giving a blurred green background from the grass.



To be honest I was a bit disappointed with both of these efforts.  They don't quite convey to me the light airy feeling I was hoping for.

This next shot is one I took at a wedding I was helping Chris (WeddingShooter) with a while ago, and I think better illustrates the kind of lighting I was talking about.  Apart from the sunlight shining through the petals giving them life, the rest of the photo provides a context which I think really helps a photo like this.



Anyway, thanks for starting the thread - it got me thinking.  I hope your submission goes well!

Hey Kombi, love your #3!  Real sense of beauty and fun...