Iris Petal

[Mitch Haimov]

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 180 mm macro lens, 36 mm extension tube, tripod. One second at f/3.5 (both set manually), ISO 100, manual focus. Shot indoors under incandescent lighting (raw conversion with tungsten white balance). Minimal PP--RAW conversion and a curve. No cropping.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5251/5583408225_4a499d5958_b.jpg

So far I have resisted the urge to "clean up" the upper left.

[Anita Bower]

Looks like you are having fun exploring the world of abstract macro. Thanks for sharing with us. :-)

I love the colors--yellow and purple go so well together. My eye goes right to that sharp yellow edge. Well done. Nice flow of lines.

Why have you been resisting the urge to clean up the UL corner? I'm curious about your thinking.

I might crop to cut out the dark shadows on the left and bottom. and brighten up the colors just a bit.

Looking forward to more.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Mitch, very graphic and colorful image! I like the sense of movement the OOF foreground creates! I do feel there's a bit too much empty space in the bottom of the image, so I would consider cropping from the bottom and get even more focus on those great yellows.

[Gary Esman]

Interesting, this is the area of macro that interest me the most. Colors here are very nice. Keep them coming anxious to see more.

Gary.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Mitch. A nice mix of colors and I like the curving flow of the comp. I would agree about cropping some off the bottom - that area isn't really adding anything to the image and, IMO, is mildly distracting. I think the image might be stronger if you did "clean up" the ULC. :S3: It will be interesting to see what other folks think. Keep them coming.

[Mitch Haimov]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I tried to incorporate them all into this repost. I removed the curve that darkened the shadows, did a little cloning in the UL, and ended up cropping from all four sides (primarily the bottom):

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5266/5589698782_4bce08f9b5_b.jpg

Not sure I can explain why is was reluctant to clean up the UL, Anita. Just didn't feel right at first. But now I'm glad I did. I think one of the benefits of BPN is that it is easier at times to be objective about other people's work than my own. But the process of translating my responses to others' work into writing is helping me become more objective about my own.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Mitch, I like the repost very much. The pano crop works well.

[Anita Bower]

Not sure I can explain why is was reluctant to clean up the UL, Anita. Just didn't feel right at first. But now I'm glad I did. I think one of the benefits of BPN is that it is easier at times to be objective about other people's work than my own. But the process of translating my responses to others' work into writing is helping me become more objective about my own.
I think the repost is an improvement. Your description of one of the benefits of BPN is right on. I have the same experience.

[Brendan Dozier]

Real nice abstact, Mitch. I agree, the repost with the pano crop looks great! Think this would look real nice blown up large. Nice work!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Repost is much better, nice curved lines and colors.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Mitch, I do like the colors and the sharp edge of the OP but the suggestions already given definitely take this one up a notch or 2. Another option would be to rotate it CCW a bit before you do the crop. This would leave some blank canvas but the nice thing about this type of image is that it's relatively easy to fill that blank canvas and not have it look edited. :S3:



I think one of the benefits of BPN is that it is easier at times to be objective about other people's work than my own.
Aint that the truth! :bg3: