I liked the unique nature of this flower. There was always something about the image, and I think it’s the fact that it reminds me of being a little girl with a full skirt, twirling around until our skirts (and straight hair) went flying out and we got dizzy. Maybe a bit fanciful, but I see it now whenever I view this image.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
It’s been a few years since I took this image on vacation in Hawaii. I know that it was quite dark in the forest. Not all of it is in focus, but I think that gives the illusion of movement. Not all of the exif data is there which is consistent with my memory that I was using a manual legacy lens. Helios, I think 85mm. It’s been a while since I used this lens, but I think it has a pretty shallow depth of field throughout the aperture range.
Your description of how you felt and the memories this little flower stirred is terrific. Hair flying for sure! If the Helios 85 is anything like my Olympus 90mm that band of focus is narrow and you have to put it somewhere. I think it works here, but would like to see a bit more around the edges of the ends of the floaty bits (oh my technical terminology!), either that or a lot less, a tighter crop maybe around the curly bits at the top. Either way it’s lovely and evocative.
Karla, I’m captivated by the sense of motion here, with the multiple sharp stamen from individual blooms doing a fine job of making this look very wind blown. My first though was “how did she get multiple sharp looks at a single stamen in one shot?” and slowly it dawned that this was multiple stamen.
@Kris_Smith and @Mark_Seaver Thanks for your comments. I hadn’t really noticed how tight the edges were until I went to upload the images. I went back and saw that I had a different image with more breathing room from the “floaty bits” (great technical term). I also did a much tighter crop on the original, although I’m not sure if it’s what you were envisioning. Both are attached here.
