Need Some Critique Help Here

[Laurence]

If you have time, would any of you mind taking a look at these two images
and give a choice as to which one might better?

I have someone who
wants a print of "sea life", but with a Sea Anemone as the central
point in the image. I thought that this had a good variety of
sea life and shows a typical ecotone of life in the lower tidal zone.

The original image is not cropped, and I am wondering if the Sea Star
on the left that is out of the focus zone, is too much of an intrusion
into the image. Or, does it help frame the rest?

The second image is, of course, cropped.

I haven't done anything to these post-processing, but it's hard to decide
sometimes which might be better. I do like the deep blue reflected areas
on the right side of the image, which helps to put color balance into
the overall image.

Original:



Cropped:

[Attila]

At first look both are nice, at more deeper look I found crop is better due on first picture bluring subject on left side a bit disturbing.

[Laurence]

[bazza59]

both are very good but I prefer the second!
For me its just a little less busy than the first. I suppose it also depends on the print size - imho the first would be better printed large (poster size), the second would work for a medium to large size.

[Orio]

hi Larry,
here's my crop:



I like to have the second anemone in the frame as it makes it clearer that Anemone's standing is the main there (it contextualizes the subject).
Also I like the idea of the cinemascope view (makes me think of nature movies - sort of evokes the feeling that the anemones are moving, better than a photographic framing).
You can easily clone out the two yellow dots at center top if they annoy you.

[DigiChromeEd]

[Orio]

[rbelyell]

i like the original crop as i just find my eye travels more easily to the subject without distraction.

[Hexanon]

Another vote for the second, cropped image if you are still deciding.

[Laurence]

Thank you ALL. It looks like the majority feel as I do, that the cropped
image is better.

And, I think I also like the bit of cropping that Orio has done to the upper
part of the frame to reduce all that space.

So, I am going with the majority of suggestions, plus Orio's additional
suggestion.

I think the buyer will like his print. His main concern was to get
a "representative" image of one of the beautiful greenish-blue
Sea Anemones from the low tide zone, with a bit of "environment"
arount it. So, the "crop" suggestions were great, and Orio's "enhancing
the subject" suggestion was great.

And, as said earlier, I do like the purple reflections on the right side
and did want to keep them. Also, I think the way the anemone is
partly under water on that side, plus those white circles from a
Sea Star under the water, definitely add to the colorful feel of the print.

This will be a 12x18 print, a nice mid-size print size.

THANKS SO MUCH!

[ylyad]

I vote for Orio's version. I like the left subject, a bit blurry but on the original, it's a bit too large (and the sun on it makes it too much visible).

[Himself]

I'd go with your cropped version.
Orio's crop would be good only if that thing had a different color than pink. That blurred pink, as little as it is, is catching my eye unpleasantly.

[cooltouch]

I agree with Attila. I find the OOF thing to be distracting, and even including a bit of it, as Orio has done makes me think that I would have cropped that bit out, as well. Or gotten real fancy with PS and replaced it with something in focus.