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Morkel Erasmus
07-12-2009, 12:17 PM
This is the dark pink variety of the cosmos flower. The cosmos is actually considered a weed in South Africa, and during the autumn months of May and April, the Highveld region is one big tapestry of white, pink and purple.

I tried to get a shallow DOF and a smooth BG here. Hope you like!

Your C&C always appreciated...

Techs:
Canon 1000D with Tamron 70-300 Di Tele-Macro @ 228mm
f6.3 @ 1/4000 SS @ ISO 400

Fabs Forns
07-12-2009, 02:00 PM
Very beautiful composition, I like the way the Cosmos is turned, and the BG makes it stand out nicely. I may sharpen the center more.

Don Lacy
07-12-2009, 02:21 PM
Very nice image well composed with nice soft pastel colors.

Julie Kenward
07-12-2009, 04:08 PM
Absolutely gorgeous, Morkel! That BG is almost as stunning as the flower itself...what a winning combination!

I saw a little bit of noise in the darker areas of the BG so I did a surface blur over the image and that seemd to calm it right down. I selected the center and gave it another round of sharpening as Fabs suggested and then cropped to an 8x10 to give it a different aspect ratio - I think it makes the flower more prominent and you still get a very nice selection of that gorgeous BG.

Alfred Forns
07-12-2009, 04:36 PM
Hi Jules I like the re post except the cropping I don't like cropping to a specific size and just do to taste I know its a hassle for matting later on since it will require all custom mats !!!

With the flower opening and leaning to the right I sort of liked the extra room there !!! Very fine image !!!

Dave Leroy
07-12-2009, 06:25 PM
Lovely looking flower with either post. The additional sharpening does do a nice job on the detail. Very nice.
Dave

Stephen Stephen
07-12-2009, 08:03 PM
Morkel beautiful image here and I like Jules' sharpening and noise reduction. American goldfinches just love Cosmos seed and the look funny hanging upside down whole trying to feed on the seed heads.

Morkel Erasmus
07-12-2009, 11:52 PM
thanks so much for all the kind comments everyone! Fabs, thank you for taking the time to tweak and repost.
here is my crop with the pod sharpened.