The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is a flower of a Horse Chestnut tree that my son grew from a conker fallen from a tree in our village (typical of him that rather than pushing a string through it and attempting to smash others, he chose instead to plant it). The individual flowers are quite small really and have a wonderful translucent, paper-like quality as well as some lovely delicate colouration. I was taken in by those qualities and the way the stamens appear to be reaching out. It reminded me very much of an exotic orchid of some kind, so I decided to play that angle up a bit!
Specific Feedback
I hope the image has given you a new view on this tree’s flowers - have I managed to do that? Again, I love the dark background to isolate the flowers, but would it help to show more of the surroundings - albeit they’re a bit messy!
Technical Details
OM System OM-1 MkII
M.Zuiko 90mm f3.5 macro
Tripod
Natural light with diffuser.
ISO 200, f9.0, 1/200sec
15 image stack with Helicon Focus Pro
Wow. This is stunning. The stack looks perfect and the light is lickable. I really need to rent one of those lenses to see how it will work on my G9M2. The color rendition here is so subtle and yes it really does show off the paper like quality of the petals that you mentioned. The black bg makes it look like a much bigger flower than it probably is. Much admiration for your son’s instinct to nurture rather than destroy.
ETA - just pulled the trigger on a rental and the beast should arrive in a couple days.
Godfrey: Ditto @Kris_Smith regarding the stack. All of the wonderful details are delightfully sharp and I like the black BG although some subdued vestiges of the BG might give it more of an environmental feel. Add my kudos to your son for his efforts. Top notch shot. >=))>
Godfrey, the details here are wonderful, especially the big curls of the stamen and the fringe on the petals. I’m with @Bill_Fach in thinking that hints of color in the background would make this feel more environmental and less like an illustration, but that’s your choice.
@Bill_Fach and @Mark_Seaver - I’ve taken a look at lifting the background, it’s not too revealing about the context of the flowers, but I do think that I like this version; what do you think, is it an improvement?
