Twirl

[Ramesh Adkoli]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3874023633_63df964080_o.jpg

A plant center at extreme closeup. Appreciate your views and comments.

EXIF: 70-200mm @190mm + 500D closeup lens, 1/100s, f/2.8, ISO 200, hand held
PP: cropped bottom part, levels, selective colors.

regards,
ramesh

[Rene Quenneville]

Hey Ramesh, this is very nice. I like the artistic touch of maximising the comp using depth of field. Almost like a motion blurr. It is very powerful!
One improvement point is to try to darken (burn) at the left end. as shown, it attracts the eye outside the picture too much.

[Anita Bower]

Ramesh: I like it! Lovely swirls. I like the presence of only 2 colors. Nice composition. I see what Rene means about darkening the left side a bit. You might try it.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Ramesh,
Really like the idea.....as i am terrible on the shallow DOF's.....I am only commenting what I find pleasing aesthetically.....I would have preferred the swirl with just the plant colors and edges....but I do understand how difficult that is to do......I'm not sure I even know where f2.8 is on my macro!

[Julie Kenward]

Ramesh, I'm interested in how you got the look of a blur in this image...did you move the camera intentionally at all or is this from the closeup lens? Very interesting...

I do wish the center area were a little less blurred at the tip but I know what it's like at 2.8! I agree to darken the left just a bit to keep it from pulling the eye away from the center swirl.

[Desmond Chan]

Ramesh, I'm interested in how you got the look of a blur in this image...did you move the camera intentionally at all or is this from the closeup lens?

If I'm allowed to guess, it's camera shake plus shallow depth of field.

Anyhow, I like it, regardless of how you got the result, intentionally or not. Quoting Tony Sweet: "Shooting close-ups wide open with selective focus is an easy way to achieve 'moody' flower images."

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Thanks everyone for your views. Rene, point taken. i will see whether i can darken the left part of the image. a simple burn spoils the look of it due to very smooth tonal gradation/transition.

Julie, the blur is a result of closeup lens and wide open aperture. I did not use camera shake. You can see that the edges of leaf at the swirl are sharp.

regards,
ramesh