Banksia speciosa

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Greetings. From the Australia section at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum... amazing flowers (hummers like them, too).

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D810 85mm T/S lens for slight macro, 1/200, f/19, ISO800, HH 36MP cropped to 9MP
Topaz Simplify BuzSim, Nik Silver Efex, a little solid fill layer color blending on bg, Topaz Adjust, curves, sharpening

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Dennis Bishop]

Great shot and processing. I like the colors, and the texture contrast is wonderful. The tight crop works well, too.

I've thought of renting a tilt/shift lens to see what it could do, but I figure that'd soon lead me and my credit card to the camera store. :)

[Paul Lagasi]

When I looked at the thumbnail the first thing that came to mind was a mini-world. Very cool flower, like how the image is presented, nice work.

[Cheryl Slechta]

I was thinking mini world also:S3: It almost looks like a sea anemone. Lovely processing, Michael.

[Nancy Bell]

Great unique view with lots of details. I really like the offset symmetry. I agree with Dennis, a tilt shift in the hand is a sure way to the wallet!

[Randall Farhy]

Michael, fascinating use of the TS lens and processing. Lovely colors with lots of understated detail and composition. The crop works well, and I really like nature's imperfect symmetry within the flower, but the leafy BG does compete with the flower head. Perhaps a mild circular vignette (highlight priority) to push it back slightly? Well done!

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful image and processing! I think Randall has a good idea -- a little looser crop and some subtle dark vignette.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis, Paul, Cheryl, Nancy, Randall, Diane,

Thanks much for your comments. Thought I'd give it different take, looser crop, darkened vignette as Randall & Diane suggest, darkened with Nik Color Efex, detailed with Silver Efex, blend color back with luminosity mode blending:

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The monochrome version of this also has its appeal, ala Nik Silver Efex. Thanks for looking. By the way this is from the top of a blossom like a stripped corn on the cobb about 5 inches long.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Judy Howle]

This is a most interesting flower which is well-photographed and processed. I love the repost!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I love your processing on this one Michael. I find the bg still a bit busy. I added vignette blur, vignette filter (green selected from the leaves, and darken lighten center). Also did a tighter crop. Might not be your cup of tea.

[Dennis Bishop]

I think I still prefer the original because the contrast in textures is more apparent, but I also like Jackie's re-post with the softer background.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Judy, Thanks much for your comment. Much appreciated.

Jackie, I like what you've done with the repost. Good idea with the vignette filter... I should remember that for future reference. From another post I did try surface blur again to good effect so that goes into the bag of tricks, too. Thanks much.

Dennis, thanks for the follow-comment. I think probably the closer crop with a bit of vignette is the trick for me.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

Interesting to see all the variations. I'm favoring the original but with just a touch more space and a darkish vignette.

I think the way it presents on the page doesn't do it justice, crowded against the edge. I wish we could at least center images.... Maybe "frame" an image to make it fit the 1200 x 900 space.

[Diane Miller]

Hmmm -- I just noticed, Jackie's post is centered, but Michael's two are not. And mine is.

Does it vary with our browsers? I'm using FF.

[Kerry Perkins]

Really nice image and concept, I like your first repost but would rotate it 90 degrees CW to put the empty dark area at the bottom. I'm curious as to what the tilt-shift lens is doing in this image. Did you use any of the tilt and/or shift, or just using the lens for its magnification factor?

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

For the full set of considerations... Diane, hadn't noticed the different frame placements. If I put the image attachment inside a centered text segment I get the following, but I suspect that's not what you do.


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Kerry, No tilt or shift, just the magnification here. This was taken just about at minimum focus distance of 16 inches, 0.50x max. reproduction ratio on this Nikon 85mm lens. I like the edge to edge sharpness of the t/s (loathe to vignette blur ;-). Thanks for commenting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

i like the B/W but it's lost some definition (Structure?) near the center. I just do the Attachment thing. I'll start noticing if other images are left-justified.

[Anita Bower]

Looks like a giant eye. I see there are lots of opinions. I prefer the second image. I think the surrounding leaves provide context, and the flower seems to pop more.

[Arthur Morris]

Lots of wonderful versions. I like the one in Pane 8 best. I too wood like to see it rotated 90 degrees clockwise to put the dark on the bottom.