On our trip to the Azores we stayed a couple of days in a Hotel in the beautiful Terra Nostra Park. They have enormous collections of Tree Ferns and Camelias. I loved the subtle color of this one and the addition of the droplets is a bonus I think. Whats your opinion?
Pnasonic DC-G9, Olympus 12-100@100mm,1/1600 F6.3 with tripod.
Ellen: The drops are a definite plus for me. You also did a nice job with the subtle colors in pretty strong light. I would be tempted to crop this to close to 4x5 to emphasize the flower more and to get rid of some less complementary elements. I also made some of the hot spots go away. My only suggestion regarding the original capture would be for a touch more DOF so that the flower center was a bit sharper. The POF seems to be on the leading edge of the flower. I’m very OK with letting the far petals go OOF but to my eye when a prominent center is soft it detracts a bit. With that said, this is a refreshing image. We need more refreshment coming out of winter but going into the uncertainty of our future. >=))>
Ellen, the sharpness of the drops on the front petal edges look really good. The white to red collection of colors is very attractive also. You didn’t give any shooting parameters, so it’s not clear that you could have gotten enough dof to get the center parts sharp, but that would be another added bonus. Bill’s crop does a nice job of emphasizing the flower and the drops.
Ellen,
Definitely the details and water droplets are the main attraction for me. Great job with getting the whites and colors clean and pretty; spot on.
I’m with Bill on the crop. While I like the dark, empty space to the right, I’m not sure having all of it is adding to the image. Not sure I would crop as much as he did on the right, although regardless of cropping less or at all, I do think you could burn down the highlights globally to the right of the main flower; keep the attention there.
Lon
Apart from agreeing with Bill over the crop I like this a lot Ellen. The droplets and the feel of the petals are a major plus, and the contrast of the flower and the dark bg works beautifully.
