Dahlias all the way down

All I can seem to be interested in right now is dahlias. It’s not often I can just walk to something I love to photograph. Again, from the Dahlia Garden in San Francisco Golden Gate Park, just a few minutes from my house. I think the center of the flower dominates the photo too much. Yes, no? Any other comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

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Tony: Frame filling fantastic IMO. I like the square crop and I think your proportion of center to petals is just right. Very nicely done. >=))>

Tony,

My, oh, my, you knocked this one out of the park. The slightly imperfect symmetry here is just fantastic. Not sure I can top Bill’s comments - I echo them completely.

I don’t think the center dominates too much; in fact I like the size allowing the viewer to explore the intimate details. The surrounding pedals just engulf this with grace, delicacy and pure beauty.

Wow.

Lon

Tony, I can see why you are stuck on these dahlias and I hope you post more. This image is gorgeous - nothing I would change.

Absolutely stunning image! No the center does not dominate too much. It is almost heart shaped with the flowing petals framing its beautiful details. Keep 'em coming.

Oh my, this is absolutely gorgeous Tony. Perfect composition, and i love the way you process color in your flora images, good saturation without going over the top. This one looks like a painting.

This is such a beautiful portrait of this flower, Tony. Overall, I think this is very well done in terms of the composition, technical choices for depth of field, cropping, and processing. My only comment has to do with a few tiny details. I personally am willing to clone out small things that others might choose to leave because they were part of the initial subject. For example, I do not like lines in a subject that are parallel to the edge of the frame in my own small scene photography work (petal in the upper left and very lower right). In these cases, I would do some cloning to eliminate those two things, which I find to be tiny visual distractions. All this is personal preference of course…

Incredible photograph. I love the dark edges of the petals. Brilliant!

Well, this is absolutely lovely. Almost looks painted. Did you use “find edges” in PS or some other technique to define the edges of the petals? I love the colors.

Thanks for the comments everyone. And no, I did not use “Find Edges” in Photoshop. Here is the original RAW photo, shot with my Canon 5D IV, Canon 100 mm II macro lens, f 5.6, ISO 1600, 1/45 sec, hand held. I gave up using my tripod for flower close ups years ago. It’s too restrictive and hurts my neck a lot! I’m lucky that I can walk to the Dahlia Garden in Golden Gate Park (SF). The garden produces amazingly beautiful dahlias. The flowers are grown by fanatical hobbyists who each get just a small area of the garden to cultivate a few plants. You see them working there all the time. What a treasure!