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Submitted: March 22, 2010
Image Size: 116 KB
Resolution: 900×900

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Defenseby =ApproxArt

Photography / Animals, Plants & Nature / Flowers, Trees & Plants

Bilberry Cactus (Myrtillocactus geometrizans)

_{Copyright © 2010 ApproxArt}

Critique by `cality Jun 22, 2010, 2:36:42 AM

Hello! This is my first critique, so I hope it’s OK.

First of all, I love the simplicity of this. It has quite a clinical, hospital feel to it, due to the greyish colours (especially the background), and the smooth starkness of the background emphasises this. Add in the spiky cactus, and it kind of looks like a biological specimen under a microscope!

I think that you’ve managed to portray the cactus very nicely in terms of the ‘defense’ of the title. The physical defence of the cactus is displayed wonderfully, and the focus on the spikes closest to the viewer is great. Your choice of cactus is good too – the image is all the better because it’s not one of those cacti which have a billion spikes (which would take away the simplicity of the photo).

The composition is good – I like how the spikes almost lead the observer’s eye across the empty space, and they contrast nicely against the smoothness of the background. It’s also great that you positioned the cactus so that both of those sets of spikes can be seen, rather than having one with the spikes ‘head-on’ (if that makes sense). However, I think that the two ‘parts’ of the cactus (if I can call them that) shown are too even – I would have liked to have seen a bit more of it cut off on the right. Just a tiny bit cut off though.

I also like how the background is graded, rather than one block of colour, which I think is much more interesting, and adds more depth to the photograph. Having the darker part on the left balances out the image nicely with the cactus on the right.

Overall, this is a great capture with quite a refreshing feel!