Dogwood Blossoms

[Julie Kenward]

Our state tree was out in force last week when I swung by the botanical gardens. Here is one of the dogwood species that has a soft pink tint to the blossoms.

Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
f4.5 @ 1/200th, ISO 100
Manual mode, pattern metering, Daylight WB
Handheld, fairly bright sun but limb was in the deep shade

[denise ippolito]

Jules, The soft pink is beautiful. This has a nice random feel to it.:)

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, very nice colors and details. Feels a bit crowded to me and I wish the left flower wasn't cut off. Having said that, I know how difficult these images are to compose. You'll probably end up cutting off another flower or having to much BG in the frame to lose the "full of flowers" feel.

[Ken Childs]

Jules, I agree with Jerry about the cutoff flower but I also know that with a Dogwood tree full of flowers, a crop that doesn't cutoff any flowers is going to look like a piece to a jigsaw puzzle. :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Tough to compose such clumps of flowers. You did about as well as one could, for the same reasons as already stated. I do wish for a tiny bit more room above for the central flower's top petal being a bit close to the edge. The mix and match of petals and leaves is rather compelling...I like it!

[Desmond Chan]

Very beautiful flowers! Good colors and sharpness. I think I would darken the dark area at the top right corner a bit more to balance the darkness at the lower left hand corner.

Cut-off flowers are good because they show that there're flowers outside the frame, which is the case for a Dogwood tree. Without them, people may wonder: "these are all the flowers there are?" Cut-off is not a bad thing all the time.

[Julie Kenward]

Desmond, I have to agree. When you have something like this where the blooms are all over the place, cutting them off in strategic locations let's the mind of the viewer know the blossoms go on and on. At least that's the way MY mind works!

[Bob Miller]

Hi Julie...the zizzag composition works for me...lovely....only wish the central flower had a bit more room at the top. Very Nice Work!

[Anita Bower]

I especially like all the curves--of the petals and the leaves. Wonderful job in getting all the main flowers in focus at f4.5! Though it could use a little more space at the top, it doesn't really bother me. I agree with you and Desmond about the cut off flowers. Very nice! I can almost feel the tree and the outdoors.