Lessons
Cast Shadows
The first is an example of alternative lighting with a duo subject pattern. In this case it is top down. There is something relatively similar with the second one - yet it does not work. The problem is that strong lighting differences or drop off, in the absence of cast shadow seems unnatural. And in this case the highlight is arbitrary and specular.
The presence of a cast shadow working with the extreme drop-off creates an illusion of it having some naturalness. This is an important effect, and an important part of making extreme drop-off work. In general, a lot of the images would have benefited from more drop-off, because there is some extreme and unnatural contrast within flowers that has been consistently problematic in just making the whole image look unnatural.
So as a rule - try a version with different drop offs - because it matters. And in cases where sharp drop-off is evident, cast shadows should work with it to make it seem more natural.
Absence of Large Scale Lightening
For some shots, despite having sharp occlusions shadows throughout, the. The third image is an example of this. The absence of a strong lighting story is perhaps the only thing that makes this weak. Why is there no strong lightening story? In this case the overlap is limited, i.e. the flow is basically one flower deep throughout. However, in the center there is an a case of the large flower overlapping the small. This would have been an excellent way to define the lighting story. Moreover, I think making the cast shadow close to the center of the image may improve its legibility. Overall, building a flow around a focal cast shadow may be a useful approach in some cases.
Cast Shadow and Focals
The third pair offers an interesting comparison. Often I default to casting the most easily cast elements, when from a narrative perspective that is the wrong approach.
Weak Shapes and Lighting
The last image is example where one of the shapes is weaker than the rest. This should be expected to be fairly common - in many cases there will be a combination of more interesting and less interesting shapes. Dealing with less interesting shapes entirely by cropping may forfeit a many more complex and interesting compositions. Lighting is crucial here.
Relegating less interesting shapes to a background role via lighting may work and needs to be considered more as a strategy, rather than simply cropping.
In this case, the lighting does not effectively deal with the issue, but my impression is there could have been some interesting compositions among those three elements, if not from that perspective - and with more skilled lighting.
Complex Compositions and Perspective
If compositions are interesting, more often than not they will be interesting from a different perspective as well. There are a few examples of this. So if there is an interesting layout that occurs, be diligent in exploring what others exist from the same elements.
Some of my best shots can from exploring totally different compositions from the same element, rather than trying to settle on the ‘best’ perspective and spend a great deal refining that.
