Japanese Magnolia + repost

These lovely flowers are starting to bloom now and I love trying to find interesting captures. The blooms don’t last long and are easily marred by rain or wind, so it’s a challenge, along with getting a decent BG. I’m digging up a few from the past few years for inspiration. This one is from 2019.

Specific Feedback Requested

All comments welcome!

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Canon 5D4, 100-400 II at 240mm, ISO 400, 1/400 sec., f/5.6. Minimal adjustments in LR and PS, full frame except for a slight crop from the right. I’m surprised I got this much DOF. I apparently deleted the raw file – something I NEVER do except for duds. It if it was a stack it would show the filename from Zerene Stacker. But I wonder if I blended 2-3 frames in PS that were not aligned enough for Zerene to work with. So change the Stack answer to maybe.

Diane: I like your POF/DOF choice here and the POV. We have a couple of these in our garden but they are not quite ready to bloom. This makes me anxious for the approaching spring. Nicely done. >=))>

Lovely magnolia bloom. Nice flow and choice of placement in the frame. One of my favorite subjects when living in CT, but they are few and far between here in MA. Also like the subtle line framing the image.

I like the subdued vibrance and tone of the flower and the background. The naked twig on the left contrasts well with the bloom and sets it off.

Diane, Nice perspective of the magnolia. Dof looks very good covering the front to back petals. First I though the stem on left may be distracting, but when I look at the enlarged image, I feels it adds to the image.

Beautifully seen, beautifully captured. Nice work!

Thanks everyone! As soon as I posted, I was bothered by the exit of the small branches on the left and the lighter ones at the top, so I pruned one and went for a little partial opacity cloning. Also some edge cleanup on the petals and decided to heal a few of the age spots. I’m tempted to prune the top one that is exiting on the left, too.

OK, I couldn’t stand it – here’s just a bit more pruning.