What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If the background has been replaced, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Awesome image! Love the color variation from front to back and the composition which shows off the depth of field. Only suggestion would be to clone out the blue spots.
That is pretty dang cool, Jim! Great image. Very creative. I agree with @Patricia_Brundage about the blue spots.
Thanks for the comments. Agree about the blue spots (pond in background caused them).
Striking image! Can’t help to wonder about f stop or focus stacking…
Jim, this is simply OUTSTANDING! Incredible amount of detail throughout the entire range. And the color gradient? Wow, just gorgeous.
I can’t disagree about the blue circle, especially the one on the right. Then again, there’s a little bokeh going on and it’s faintly repeated on the left. I think perhaps there might be an alternate edit. You could either desaturate the blue in the scene (globally wouldn’t impact the leaves) and also play with the lightness slider to try and mitigate the circle’s presence, but not eliminate it. Just a thought.
You didn’t mention any techniques or equipment - but I’m very curious to know how you managed to obtain such critical focus and detail through the entire length of the plant. This is quite impressive - and even more so to pull it off with a limited web view like this.
Wow!
Lon
Stunning image!. Beautiful composition, light and color. Perfect. I like the blue spots.
Thank you all for the comments. Canon 7D Mark II; Canon 100/400 4.5/5.6L at 400; AE; WB auto; 9.0 F; spot; 400 ISO; exposure comp.-1 2/3; 1/1250th; handheld. cropped and sharpened slightly in a Zoombrowser version that came with an earlier model Canon. While Lon’s suggestions are intriguing, I must confess that I only have an earlier version of elements and Zoombrowser. I don’t even know how to accomplish what you suggest, Lon. Looks like tutorials and an up-to-date post processing program are (a least should be) in my future. Thanks once again.
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Great shot, handheld, sharp and well composed! Dang - this is great. Love the treatment of the lightness of the image throughout. The colors look perfect - wouldn’t change a thing.
I am a bit conflicted, but agree with @Tony_Siciliano that the blue spots are not a complete distraction…I just wish there were a few more of them placed throughout the scene. Alternatively, I can sea value with their absence, but the shot would then be a much simpler statement (not a bad thing, just a thing). Thanks for sharing.
Jim - this makes this capture and presentation all the more impressive! I’m truly impressed with the level of detail and sharpness. And to your response, great evidence that one does not need fancy techniques or software to produce great photographs; it’s about the photographer. Kudos.
Jim: Great image and one that on first glance is visually conflicting. What I mean is that we tend to see things more naturally when oriented left to right. I flipped this horizontally to show the point. Not sure this orientation is better but I think you can see the difference. I did a little quick and dirty work on the blue spots just by setting the black point in a curves level on one of the spots and then bringing back up the brightness of the leaves. All in all this is a superbly crafted image. 
>=))>
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A beautiful image, Jim. I too love the composition and nice details all the way through.
Simply outstanding, Jim. The glow and details are awesome.
Jim, I missed this until seeing it here in the EP banner area. What a wonderful image. Lots of technical thoughts and ideas posted, but for me the immediate draw was and is the excellent composition. A truly stunning floral photograph in the end…
An EP for this. I am honored to receive it. Thanks to all for comments.
Beautiful light and detail - very striking, congratulations!
Grtz, Ingrid.