Marigold

[Anita Bower]

Nikon D300, 105mm macro lens, f3.5 ("relative"), 1/40, ISO 200, tripod, outdoors, natural light. PP: PS7, curves, selective color, contrast, saturation, selective sharpening, smooth BG (but can't remember how).

[Ken Childs]

Anita, lovely colors in this! I like this comp, too.
The yellows look a bit hot but really they fit the mood of this image so that's OK. I find myself wanting to see a bit more DOF of the flower's center but I imagine that would have wrecked the cool looking fading stem and BG so I think it's a good trade-off.

[Julie Kenward]

Another lovely one, Anita! I love the way the stem dances to push the flower to the FG. If you have a little more room at the bottom, I'd add a slice in to give that stem just a touch more room. I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more DOF so more of the stamen were in the focal plane but I do like it as presented. Might pull the yellows back a tiny bit - that might make the fall off in DOF less apparent.

Did you maybe do a surface blur on the BG? It looks so smooth - it's the first thing I thought of.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, Ken and Jules! I agree that the yellows are a bit too much--I wondered about that. The problem with more dof is that the BG becomes too busy--I smoothed it out even at this dof. Wanting a little more dof for the flower has been an issue in my last few posts, so I will work at finding a solution.

[Cheryl Flory]

I too like 3-D effect of the flower coming out of the bg. perhaps just a bit less smoothing on the front side of the base of the flower to make a more even transition. really like the composition.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Anita, a wonderful flower in very nice BG colors! I like what the low light conditions (judging from your settings) does to the colors. Another vote here for more DOF, even the front stamen seem a little OOF as it is. But I understand your reasons for leaving it like this. Like Jules remarked, I would like to see a little more separation of the stem from the frame. I see that you already added canvas there. On my monitor, it shows as a very even green stripe, which has a slightly different color than the BG it connects to. Maybe something odd happened here. Easy fix with the clone tool I'd guess.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Anita,
Comp is spectacular.....with the stem comind up where it is (do agree on a hair more room bottom). Yellows already mentioned.I think if you opted for more dof....you would just have to work on the smoothing out more of the BG. Another option is to make a note of the distance to the BG....from the flower....see if you can find a bloom that is a bit further away from the BG! Not an easy task .....I know....but you are inspiring me to try that shallow end soon!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hi Anita,

I would only echo all the comments above..........................I took a shot at a re-post that selectively blurs the slightly OOF elements of the flowers to try and achieve a tighter field of focus, and pop those elements that attracted me to the photo. This was a fast edit, but more careful gradient blurring might do the trick. Hope you don't mind. It's just another alternative to consider.

I just sharpened the FG and slightly darkened the BG OOF elements of the flower.
Then I did some gradual blurring (very coarse, but just so you get the idea) of the OOF elements fo the flower to approximate a more open AP.

Cheers,

Jay

[Anita Bower]

Hi Anita,

I would only echo all the comments above..........................I took a shot at a re-post that selectively blurs the slightly OOF elements of the flowers to try and achieve a tighter field of focus, and pop those elements that attracted me to the photo. This was a fast edit, but more careful gradient blurring might do the trick. Hope you don't mind. It's just another alternative to consider.

I just sharpened the FG and slightly darkened the BG OOF elements of the flower.
Then I did some gradual blurring (very coarse, but just so you get the idea) of the OOF elements fo the flower to approximate a more open AP.

Cheers,

Jay
Thanks! I never mind someone on this forum playing around with my images and making suggestions. That is why I'm here--to broaden my horizons. I hadn't though of your idea and I may play around with it. Thanks!