crocus

[Ron Conlon]

A break from the hyperrealistic stacks... a backlit crocus with shallow dof.
D5100 tripod, remote release, 200mm f/5 1/40s ISO 100.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Yes the shallow DOF works for me in this shot. The only critique I would venture is that the flower head looks a little large in the frame, I would suggest cropping looser or adding canvas and filling in appropriately.

[Ron Conlon]

Thanks, Jon. I will add some breathing room by filling in some canvas. I got too greedy framing it ;)

[Diane Miller]

The very lovely sharpness on that one leaf is all you need! I love how the greens morph into that touch of gold in the UR.

Another vote for a little more room.

[Ron Conlon]

with no small assist in the magic department from adobe photoshop, here is a repost with some breathing room created out of pixel dust (canvas size increased and background created by deletion with autofill and some retouching with the clone tool to remove truly incongruous bits)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Yes I like the repost - very much!

[Diane Miller]

Me too! Love that pixel dust!

There is what may be an overlooked somewhat "posterized" area in the UL. Try this trick to have a look. Do a Levels or Curves adjustment layer and pull in both ends to give extreme contrast. Then change the layer mode (upper left of the Layers panel) to Luminosity to kill the most extreme saturation. A handy way to see what's really happening as you clone in light or dark areas.

[Ron Conlon]

Thanks...excellent tip, Diane, that really highlights the problem areas where the pixel dust failed me.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Me too - Diane another tip - will remember that one!

[Steve Maxson]

Quite a change from your usual posts, Ron. :S3: I like it! The sharp petal in the foreground gives my eye something to lock onto and you have a pleasing mix of colors surrounding it. Like the others, I think the repost is a big improvement!

[Anita Bower]

I like both versions. Love the colors and the backlighting. Crocus say "spring" to me. Effective use of shallow dof. I'm a little distracted by the three leaf tips at the very bottom--maybe blur them some? Anyway, a lovely breath of spring.