Flowering Tree

[Anita Bower]

It is good to be back after a two week trip to visit my sister.

This is some type of tree flowering in Eugene, Oregon. Taken indoors on windowsill with natural light. Nikon D300, Sigma 105mm macro, 1/40 sec., f4.2 (relative) ISO 160, manual focus and exposure, tripod. RAW conversion in Elements 7, PP in PS7: levels, contrast, saturation. Cloned out some distracting elements and some green BG. Duplicated layer and blended with Soft Light for brightness. Blurred edges.

[Julie Brown]

Anita, this has a beautiful soft, and delicate feel to it. I like how the stamens stand out against the OOF BG. So you shot this through a window? Nice effect.:)

[Anita Bower]

Anita, this has a beautiful soft, and delicate feel to it. I like how the stamens stand out against the OOF BG. So you shot this through a window? Nice effect.:)

Thanks for your comments. I did not shoot it through the window--I cut the branches, brought them inside, and put them in a vase on the windowsill. I wasn't clear in my description.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Anita, this is lovely! Very nice details on the flower (it looks like some sort of Prunus species) and I love the gradually fading BG with OOF flowers gradually fading into a nice pink blur. Point of attention is right in the sweet spot in the LR corner. Too bad you clipped the lower petal on the flower. I think your image would improve if you toned down the bright spot (another petal?) next to it.

[Barbara Kile]

Lovely pinks & comp, Anita. An 'out of focus clip' is a borderline issue to me, but I would have loved to see you tilt the camera downward just an 'ooch' - which would have eliminated all issues with a 'clip' anyway. I love the soft pink tones throughout and the repetition of the main flower. I'm a soft image junkie, so this is a pleasure to view!

[Vida van der Walt]

Apart from that bit of clipped petal this is stunning Anita! One of the most beautiful soft images I've seen since joining this site. I feel like I just want to reach out and touch that softness.:)

[Julie Kenward]

Another beauty, Anita! I also would probably have preferred a slightly higher angle looking down and that bottom petal all inside the frame. That said, you captured some beautiful, soft diffused light here and the pinks are smooth as silk! Lovely DOF as well. Reminds me of cotton candy. ;)

[Kaushik Balakumar]

This is a beautiful image Anita.
Simple loved the soft feel it has and the pink to add to it ! Very neatly processed too.
Am so tempted to crop off a wee bit from top and left.

[Charissa]

Have to go with Kaushik, Anita, i would also crop a bit from the top and left. Lovely shot as is as well, soft and delicate with beautiful pastel colors. This will keep me relaxed if it where to hang on the wall somewhere.

[Charles Wesley]

Anita,

Glad to see you back. Very lovely image. Makes me feel so nice. Really like the overall softness vs the stamen sharpness in the LR corner.

Thanks for sharing...
__________________
Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, FL

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all for your helpful and encouraging comments (as always!) I will try to crop. Good point about the clipped lower petal. :)