Polesden Lacey - 2nd Visit

[Didache]

Hi all.. I paid a visit to Polesden Lacey again today, around 20 miles south of London - a home owned by a formidable Edwardian lady and left to the nation on her death (some of you might remember my "hole in the wall" image from the same place a couple of months ago.)

The first one is the house itself - I was there early enough to catch it before too many people were about. The second is a statue in the rose garden with some poppies (I had to lie on my back on the path to get this one). The third is one of many ornamental griffons.

As always, any comments/critiques are appreciated and noted.

Cheers
Mike

[swmdrayfan]

Hiya Mike.
Love the top and bottom shots, but that statue just seems to dominate the middle shot, even though the DOF is good. I'm sure that was your idea, but I keep wandering to it. I think I'll be in the minority here .
John

[Didache]

Heh John .. we all have different tastes! To be honest, the middle one is the one I am most curious to hear people's viewsd on, seeing as it's a little "different". We'll see what the consensus is

Mike

[jkriminger]

2nd shot opinion...i think your bokeh is too interesting for a background and not enough OOF. The two in the same focus... .. might be better.

[Greg McCary]

I think I will go against the crowd on this one. I think the composition and DOF are fine and #2 is the best of the three. I also think the statue works as well.
#1 looks a bit soft and it looks as though you were fighting a bright sunny day on them all. For the weather conditions I think you did very well.

[PrevailingConditions]

My take on the second shot is that the you almost have too much going on in the foreground and the background isn't out of focus enough. It's still dominant enough that it distracts. I have another odd thought that occurred to me while I was looking at the page and I think this picture would present differently if you didn't have to scroll to see it. As it was, I saw the top of the statue first and not the flowers. Once I scrolled down it looked better.

PC

[Frog]

I think #2 would look better with the statue in focus and the flowers blurred. But then, I'm weird.

[GB1]

The second and third shots are smart uses of DOF. The bottom one I like because of the greenery, but I also feel there is something missing - perhaps a flower layed across the thing's lap? The second one seems to have some symbolism to it, but it is somewhat too discrete. Perhaps if there was a tad more area below the flower it would work out better. The top one is pretty much a "I was there" shot, even though it is nicely done.

In all, not bad shots at all. They might just need a few tweaks to push them over the top.

GB

[Didache]

Thanks guys for having a peek. The first one is indeed an "I was there" shot - nothing much to say about it really. As I said, the second one has the most interest. I will play with it - although I admit it looks pretty much as I intended. I would have liked more or better placed poppies, but with a formal garden I pretty much have to take it as it is.

Cheers
Mike