The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I thought I had renewed my acquaintance with the beautiful, sweet-scented tree of 3 years ago (see What a Difference a Night Makes (reposts)). Much later, I realized that this species, in a local park, is Magnolia grandilflora, probably familiar to many NPN members.
As you can see, the stamens (the things that look like matches) had already fallen, and, as this is where the pollen lies, the bees were mostly scrounging down there. But I liked this view, where the bee is hoping to pick up some pollen grains in the area where the stamens had been attached.
Specific Feedback
It’s all a bit soft, as I had to gently hold down the branch containing the bloom with one hand, while shooting with the other hand. Does the composition/color compensate for this a bit? Also, can you spot that this is actually a composite of two shots?
Technical Details
D500 + 105mm macro 1/500 f22 ISO 2000 EV + 0.67
Joined two shots, cleaned up the join and then cropped in a bit. Then I lightened and sharpened the bee with Adjustment Brush in Lightroom. Adjusted tonalities and Topaz Denoise, then final tonal treatment in Photoshop.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Mike, what a great find and capture. My old eyes aren’t seeing the softness you mentioned. I really love the lighting on this. I believe that top pedal acted as a diffuser throwing a nice soft light on the bee. It also wraps around nicely over the inside of the flower keeping the eye focused on what is important. I am wondering about adding a bit of contrast to just the bee would make him stand out more. I really like how the stamens are lying there and the one just pointing up at the bee.
It doesn’t look soft where it matters, Mike and I love the way it goes soft in the foreground and background to frame the action in a cloud of white. A beautiful image.
Mike: Really well done IMO. We have a number of magnolia trees in our garden and I like to shoot them when all of the stamens are attached or when they’ve all fallen off like here. They do remind me of match sticks and the way these are littered on the floor of the flower is just right. Really nice of the bee to cooperate and pose so nicely. Most excellent all around. >=))>
Mike this is an excellent look at this magnolia bloom and it’s friend. My old house has one of these and I sure enjoyed trying to get good images of the blooms. If you don’t have fallen stamen, you don’t get that neat reddish structure at the base of the flower. I do see a slight halo around the bee’s head and thorax in the large view that I’m guessing is from the compositing.
Thank you for the EP. Today another flower on the tree was buzzing with bees and I realized they were pulling down the stamens and collecting most of them in a pile on a single petal. Then they all wallowed in the pollen on this pile. Once all the stamens had been pulled off, bye-bye bees - all this in a few hours.
NB I’ve corrected the ID - it’s M. grandiflora, not obovata, but just as beautiful.
