Water Lily in Black Water

[Nick Palmieri]

Ken's Periwinkle made me think of the water lily's I shot last spring at Longwood Gardens. This was HH, with my Canon 7D, 70-200 lens at 130mm with 12mm Extension tube, ISO 100, f/20, SS 1/60, with flash at -1 1/3. I use a flash bracket to keep the flash off camera. The water is dyed black but I darkened it a bit more in PS.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Nick. Lovely colors, the black background works well here, and I like the comp. I think the flower could stand a bit more sharpening overall. You might also consider trying to remove some of the brownish areas at the base of the white petal in the foreground - some careful cloning would do the trick. :S3:

[Ken Childs]

Hey Nick, great colors here and the black BG sets them off nicely! I agree with Steve that the flower could use some more sharpening and if you decide to try and clean up those brown areas he mentioned, while you're at it you might want to do some work on the upper edge of the white petal on the right. I would also consider trying a small crop from the top.....just enough so the top and right petals are about the same distance from the edge of the frame. The crop looks good as is and this might not be necessary but it's worth a try for comparison. An extremely minor point.....there's a white spot on the upper dark part of the leaf that could be cloned away. :S3:

[Linda Dulak]

Nick: Isn't Longwood a gread source of photo opportunities! This is a very nice waterlily with just enough of the leaf to ground it I think it could stand a bit more sharpening as the others have mentioned.

Linda

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Nick,
Great advice above and agree on the sharpening. I think the way the leaf heads fades is a really nice touch too! Tweak will take this over the top.

[Anita Bower]

Lovely colors and presentation. Good advice given above. Look forward to more.