Blossom

[Dave Leroy]

From last April. 7D, 100mm, ISO400, f/11, 1/40 Tirpod.

[Bob Miller]

Dave...I like the focus and the whites look good on my monitor but the golden leaves just seem to compete too much with your main subject for my taste...also I would evict the leaf in the LLC. .....buts lets see what others say

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks Bob
I do have a crop to take the little leaf in LLC out. I was mixed so posted this one and will follow up with other crop tomorrow.
Very good point about leaves. I had not noticed nor thought about that.
Agree on the wait and see.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Dave I can see the dilemma when capturing this image, you want it tight but not too tight, you require differential focus and you don't want too many distractions in the background. You are very close in terms of composition/positioning. I wasn't there of course but after looking at the image I would suggest a slightly higher viewpoint and a little further over to the left, this would have possibly isolated the bloom and nearby leaves. From my perspective I like the leaves, the background could possibly be homogenised a little and perhaps made a tad less bright so it becomes less prominent. The exposure and colours on the bloom/leaves is excellent, slightly unfortunate the top leaf has been chopped. I find images like this very tricky, I find myself saying how difficult can this be, the subject is there, it's not going anywhere, but there are so many other factors. I think this is a good image, maybe you may have a little more space on the original to have another attempt?

[Dave Leroy]

It is interesting about chopping things. I am with you in that i like clean edges and no or minimal overlaps/merges. However I see so many paintings where the painter, who has options, intentionally chops. So I am experimenting a little bit and not doing so well.