Day lily OOF

[Jay Sheinfield]

Something different.............some minor leaf repair/alt. Cropped to frame. Sharpening work on one stamen anther.

Nikon D3s
1/250 sec @ f/5.6
550mm
ISO 400

Comments welcome....

[John Storjohann]

Good morning, Jay. Isolating all of the stamens on a day lily, with all of the tips in focus with such shallow DOF is hard...great job! I would think of burning the 4 corners a bit, and brightening the natural oval shaped area in the centerin the center; you'll bring out the stamens a bit more, let a little more of that beautiful center background color come through, and get rid of some of the distraction in the upper left from the bright green. Love the work you're doing with day lilies!

[kostas nianiopoulos]

great one , lovley colors , it looks like it is comes from green fire , well done

[Anita Bower]

I like the glow of this image and the backlighting. A bit dark for my taste. I lightened it up a bit to give you an idea--also cloned a bit on the right border and darkened that area (with too harsh a line) and the URC leaf. I especially like the softness of the lines where the stamens emerge. :)

[Norm Dulak]

Jay:

I really like the glow of this image, the softness and color of most of the flower, and the beautiful light "fire" around the anthers. My only suggestion would be to crop away some of darkness at the bottom of the image. I think Anita's rendition is an interesting alternative. But I like your posting a bit better, because the darker image better emphasizes the glow and the anther fire IMO.

As a relative newcomer to the world of macro photography, I'm a bit surprised to learn that you used a 550mm lens. Exactly which lens did you use, and did you also employ an extension tube or teleconverter to get this macro image?

In any event, I think this is very well done. Thanks for sharing.

Norm

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hi Norm,

Your question on the lens................I use the Nikon 200-400mm quite often. It has a min focus distance of 6.4' or .28 magnification ratio, which make it great for isolating images. In this image I used it with a TC 14e (1.4) teleconverter, which would further increase the magnification ratio.

Thanks, for your feedback. Yes, my attraction to this flower was the soft glow from setting sun and the anther fire from a stray ray of light.

Jay

[Norm Dulak]

Hi Norm,

Your question on the lens................I use the Nikon 200-400mm quite often. It has a min focus distance of 6.4' or .28 magnification ratio, which make it great for isolating images. In this image I used it with a TC 14e (1.4) teleconverter, which would further increase the magnification ratio.

Thanks, for your feedback. Yes, my attraction to this flower was the soft glow from setting sun and the anther fire from a stray ray of light.

Jay

Jay:

Thanks for the explanation, and again, Well done!:)

Norm

[Ken Childs]

Jay, I really like the glow on this shot and the colors and brightness are great as they are, IMO. One suggestion would be to change the angle slightly so all of the anthers have flower behind them...had to say this before Jules' got a chance :D.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jay,
I went a different route.....the crop tool and a bit of patching on the LLC.......selectively dodging the stamen. Just another option to explore as this one positively glows!!!
Dang...I deleted.....will repost in a few.

[Julie Kenward]

I like Anita's center. I like Roman's crop. I like Ken's suggestion for the stamen but I'm giving you a break because you can see them all very nicely as they are. :p Looks like Avian has their HAP and Macro has me as the SPP (Stamen Position Police!) :D

I do love the glow and the original image - but the tweaks here do give you some great suggestions. Follow your own vision but you've got some great ideas here...

[Jay Sheinfield]

Whew, lots of ideas! :D I'll give it some time and think about the suggestions and see what follows. Thanks folks.

Jay

[Desmond Chan]

Ok, I think I have to pick Roman's repost as the best. The original is very nice, too, imo.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I don't know what to say - i like them all, absolutely superb subject and it has made for a very interesting and instructive post.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Not to be accused of photo-edit by committee, I have taken a pass at this as follows..............

I cropped "Roman-style", then rotated CW to balance the center more to the left "Anita-style".

Darkened ULC to add depth (John's point).

I then softened the entire BG using reduced tonal contrast and, added a 10% glow (glamor glow)......my style, to enhance the overall feeling.

So, here ya go.........................let me know if you like, or not! Clearly, this may work in more than 1 way.

Thanks, this was very cool!

Jay

[John Storjohann]

I'm liking it Jay...the crop may be a bit too tight at the bottom now for my taste, but that is such a matter of personal preference...I think this is definitely an improvement over the original post.

[Julie Kenward]

I think you really got some great advice here, Jay! The image really does look stronger.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Julie.........

thanks, and I really appreciate the "get of jail free" card regarding the stamen. ;)

Cheers, Jay

[Vida van der Walt]

Beautiful image Jay! You received some great advice and your repost looks spot on.:)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Great job with the advice Jay!! I don't mind photo editing by comittee.....if the results turn out like this! I do like it better......but how about you?!!!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Roman,

Yes, the more I look, the more I like. It is cleaner with more impact. imo!

Cheers,
Jay

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Very interesting discussion here, ideas and suggestions! Good job on the final version. I like it!