I was geting tires put on my car when I noticed these berries in the parking lot. When I checked them in Photoshop they proved to contain a pretty pure blue. They were up pretty high, and the wind was blowing about 30mph and shaking them around a lot, so I couldn't really get a closer view. In the thumbnail view, it reminds me of an Impressonist painting, and I may run some filters later to see if can accenuate that look.
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COMPOSITION/CONTENT: A plethora for sure! Great subject. There are several different things in the photo competing for the eye's attention: the leaves with light on them, the leaves without light on them, the different shades of the berries themselves, some in direct light, some in filtered light and others shaded. This makes it difficult for the eye to focus on one part of the picture. I also would have liked to see a close up of nothing but berries in the picture showing the different shades and colors.
BACKGROUND: I would like to see what the photo would look like with a soft fill flash to minimize the small areas with the sky showing through, as long as the flash didn't flatten out the picture as it sometimes does.
CAMERA WORK/TECHNICAL: Exposure is good and focus is good except a few tiny spots where it looks like the wind moved your subject.
DIGITAL PROCESSING/TECHNICAL: Some of the berries are very blue while some do look purple. Adjusting the red down a little might increase the overall blue look of the photo.
MY OPINION: Small bluish berries on a bush or tree are difficult to photograph, I've tried and was not successful. You've been a lot more successful with this photograph.
For the record, I have a common (in men) form of red-green color-blindness, which gives me difficulty in distinguishing between blues and purples, greens and browns, etc. I avoid making many judgements based on color -- I make my esthetic decisions primarily on tone, contrast, cropping, and sharpening, and the appropriate application of each considering the subject matter.
When I checked some of the brightly-lit berries in Photoshop the densitometry indicated a pretty pure blue, although I'm sure there's a lot of purple ones too.
These were several feet up, and the wind was gusting that day 30-40mph and they were swaying pretty wildly, so I couldn't really make it a much tighter shot. And, it was mostly back- and side-lit through the rest of the hedge.
Privet berries are much esteemed by birds, but my gardening book makes no mention of their edibility by humans, so I'd suggest not eating any. It did mention that the fruit made a huge mess, so don't plant over your patio or driveway. Privets are bushes or small trees used with great frequency for hedges.
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I think I actually scored a little better than I predicted!
These look like grapes. Are they a form of grape? Do they taste as good? Are these purple or blue. They look purple here, but I'm assuming they must be blue for you to submit them for the blue challenge. Good focus and good crop. Background to busy. Don't know how to avoid that without picking the berries, maybe another angle from the ground up. Just my opinion. PTL 6
i tried the same type photo with juniper berries and had the same results. it was difficult to get the berries to look good. maybe because they are not on the same focal plane and not in the same lighting.
Pretty. What are these used for? I don't think I've heard of them. Might of been a foot or two closer here. I appreciate your efforts. Nice work. Justine
A closer shot of one of the bunches I think would have gotten the point across better - but I really like the framing of the shot. A little more light in the front would have been nice - but out of your control.
Kind of purple... as far as the picture goes, the subject is too small, the lighting is a little odd, and the focus of the subject seems to be poor, but that might just be because the flowers are so small in the shot.
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