Virginia Bluebell Buds

[Anita Bower]

Taken at Shenks Ferry, Pennsylvania. 105mm macro.

Cropped; selective darken and lighten; Shadows/Highlights; blue and cooling photo filters.
Textures: "Unfinished Canvas" by Tim_in_Ohio (https://www.flickr.com/photos/27613359@N03/5447991085/in/photolist-9iqnWM-9iXh6m), and "Xanthe" by Kim Klassen (http://www.kimklassencafe.com/).

Are the buds oversaturated? Other improvements?

Thanks!

[Randall Farhy]

Anita, another interesting flower image. I really like the texture and subdued tones as they allow the blue subject to really stand out. The blue doesn't seem overdone, perhaps the flower heads are just a touch too green. The upper leaf while complete, does tend to pull my eye with the light blue highlights-how do you feel about a custom aspect ratio? I find your flower images unique and appealing, looking forward to more of these!

[Anita Bower]

Anita, another interesting flower image. I really like the texture and subdued tones as they allow the blue subject to really stand out. The blue doesn't seem overdone, perhaps the flower heads are just a touch too green. The upper leaf while complete, does tend to pull my eye with the light blue highlights-how do you feel about a custom aspect ratio? I find your flower images unique and appealing, looking forward to more of these!
Randall: I like the crop you did. It improves the image and focuses the viewer on the buds. Many thanks! This is just the type of comment I'm looking for.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Anita, I'm glad Randall suggested that crop - I think it improves your image. The long leaf is appealing on it's own with that nice curve at the end but seemed to be too tall for the image and drew your eye away from the main point of interest. Lovely choice of textures, as always:S3:

[Wendy Kates]

Anita, I really like the color combination that is produced by the textures, as well as the way that the background and leaves produce a calming contrast to the bright blue buds.

[Diane Miller]

You have two possible images here! In the OP it would be interesting to have more room top and left, to see if the very interesting leaf tip worked better.

[Hazel Grant]

yes, agreed...the crop does pull it together better. I still think the berries are a bit over sat, but that's your vision.

[Anita Bower]

yes, agreed...the crop does pull it together better. I still think the berries are a bit over sat, but that's your vision.
Thanks, Hazel. I suspected they were oversaturated.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Beautiful work Anita, love the colours and textures. I'm partial to the OP.

[Dennis Bishop]

The textures you used are wonderful on this, and I agree with Jackie on the crop. I wouldn't want to lose any of that leaf on the left. Its curve and the way it points to the leaf below are just too good. The berries are just a bit saturated for my taste, but I wouldn't back off very much.

[Anita Bower]

The textures you used are wonderful on this, and I agree with Jackie on the crop. I wouldn't want to lose any of that leaf on the left. Its curve and the way it points to the leaf below are just too good. The berries are just a bit saturated for my taste, but I wouldn't back off very much.
Thanks Dennis. Glad to have you back. I agree about the saturation of the flowers.