Soft Petals

[Mike Moats]

Just jammed the 180 into this gerbera flower and hoped for the best. Left the focus soft.

Fuji S5, Sigma 180, Tripod, Natural Light, F/3.5

[Bruce Murden]

Nice impressionistic result. For me, I'd like a little CW rotation of the image, but that's a minor thought.

[denise ippolito]

Mke, It's so beautiful, the colors and the soft look work well together

[Ed Vatza]

Very nice Mike. Love the color on color, the softness, the composition... everything about it. In your experience, do images like this sell? Or do the purchasing public prefer sharp, crystal clear realistic images?

Now I hate to be the one to take a literal interpretation on such an impressionistic image but... before I, and possibly others, go "jamming" our 150 or 180 or 200mm macro lenses into a flower, is that what you really did here??? :eek::confused: With a 180, you minimum focusing distance would be what - about 18" maybe. Any closer and you will not be able to focus sharply which obviously is not the issue here. But how close did you move to the flower? I guess I can't believe you would get this much "in focus" moving a 180 right on top of the flower. I guess I could just experiment myself but thought I would ask first.

[Julie Kenward]

Beautiful result, Mike. I agree that a touch of CW rotation would be a nice balance for the image.

[Anita Bower]

I like it just as it is! Nice soft feel and colors, with enough definition to satisfy. I look forward to the answer to Ed's question.

Anita Bower

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ed, I can focus in at eight inches with the 180, and I got a little carried away with the jam comment, but I was as close as I could get without adding extension tubes.

[Bogdan Coltea]

Very nice image. I like the softness, on both the light and focus