Challenge:Gold, White and Blue

[Steve Adkins]

Not quite "Old Glory" colors for Memorial Day but...
This could be a Whoville pot of gold!:)
10x, crop left/right.
Gold ring about 1mm dia. Entire bloom 5mm.
D700, PB4 bellows near max, reversed 24mm, f22, backlit R1 flash

[Roman Kurywczak]

Pretty wild Steve! I like the comp overall but feel it is a touch too soft for me. You may also want to bring up the lower 2 yellow areas and a bit of the bottom white....just to smooth out the tonal transition. Interesting way you used the equipment too....not done that way every day!!!

[Desmond Chan]

It does look soft but it gives a different feel...more like a painting. Like the composition and the color.

[Anita Bower]

What first drew me to this image were the colors--marvelous! I also like the centered composition. I would like the image to be either sharper--have one area in focus, or softer--more out of focus and more abstract. Thanks for sharing.

[Christopher Miller]

Love the comp and colors, Steve, but I have to agree with the others that it looks a bit too soft for my taste.

[Steve Adkins]

Thanks everyone for your comments. This really helps me. :)
The repost has additional sharpening to the center and I've attempted to even the lighting. I'm afraid the DOF is just a sliver of a mm... but that's just an excuse to try focus stacking next time. :D

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Really close!!! Very nice colors, interesting techs.

[Anita Bower]

Steve: I like the second post with the sharper center. For me, it makes a world of difference. Good job. If I might make one more suggestion--the image would be more pleasing to me if some of the little dark spots were cloned out.

[Ken Childs]

Steve: I like the second post with the sharper center. For me, it makes a world of difference. Good job. If I might make one more suggestion--the image would be more pleasing to me if some of the little dark spots were cloned out.
Same thoughts here. The repost is much better and removing those spots would take it up a notch or 2.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Very pleasing subject. Relevant comments already given.

[Steve Adkins]

Cloned the darker spots to clean it up. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate your suggestions. :)

[Anita Bower]

Much better!!

[Julie Kenward]

Very nice colors, Steve! I think the improvements you made from everyone's suggestions really helped. It looks like you learned quite a bit from the challenge!