Carl Sagan's favorite

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Manual mode
1/500"
F22
ISO:400
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
LR & CS3
HH

A Cosmos, of course! :D

I was playing around with a new extended version of my homemade bounce card when I shot this. The BG is clear sunny sky but it's dark because of the fast SS. I thought about taking it all the way down to black but I like this dark blue. Cropped with canvas added on the bottom. I like the pollen so I left it in for this edit but I'll probably do another one with it cloned out.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Ken...nice use of flash here ....Bg look s great and nice sharp details in flower. The pollen doesn't bother me! In fact, billions and billions of pollen grains all over the flower and bg would make Carl happy i am sure!:D

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. I like the nice even lighting and you have good sharpness throughout. The dark blue makes for an interesting, and different, background. I have mixed feelings about the pollen grains. Obviously, they are a natural part of the flower, but with everything else in the image being so smooth and calming (if you will), the little bright dots really draw my eye away from the "big picture." Other that that minor point (and others may disagree), this is very well done. :)

[Ken Childs]

For comparison, here's a link to a pollen-free version in the OOTB forum. The BG is slightly different. :)

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?73460-Cosmos-in-the-Cosmos

[Cheryl Flory]

I would remove a lot of pollen, but leave some in one area for a great accent and interest points. I really liked your blue background, until I saw your OOTB stary sky background. Where did you find the tutorial on creating that?

[Ken Childs]

Cheryl, here's the tutorial I used.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/starry-sky/

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanks, Ken!

[Julie Kenward]

You have a wicked sense of humor, Ken! :)

Love the pollen. I also like the idea of cloning all but one group as a counter point to the overall flower. Only thing I don't absolutely love here is how the stem kind of fades into the BG.

[Steve Maxson]

I like the pollenless (is that a word?) version and the starry sky background fits well with your cosmos theme. :)

[Art Kornienko]

I would have liked to see this one with a vert crop and a bit more room at the top and right.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ken,
Glad I popped in to see this as the the color combos and details look very good! I agree with the pollen clean up gang.......but it still looks great as presented too.