Tulip cross-section

[Brendan Dozier]

Inside with available light and flashlight behind tulip with some tissue paper as diffuser. Standard adjustments in ACR & PP, accidentally dropped flower so used spot healer tool to clean-up quite a few pollen grains (fun!), brought up levels in BG until it went all white, added a bit of canvas to L side, sharpening. Wish the closest anther was sharper. :S3:

7D, EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, tripod
2.0 sec
13.0
ISO 400

C & C welcome & appreciated,

- Brendan

[Mitch Haimov]

I like this one a lot, Brendan! Very interesting and original composition. Nice use of backlighting. Are flashlights going to become standard tools for BPN macro shooters? I, too, would wish for that last anther to be sharper but it isn't terribly obvious that it's soft. When making images like this I tend to bracket apertures as DOF insurance. Just because everything looks sharp w/ DOF preview and on the camera back doesn't always mean it is necessarily so, unfortunately. f/22 or f/32 might have made all the difference.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Brendan,
Sweeeeeet! Way to use a flashlight to bring in some very nice light! I agree that going to f16-22 may have made the DOF better.......but all in all this turned out fantastic!:cheers:

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks very much Mitch, Roman - have to keep that in mind regarding dof. Realize you can't count on the preview to verify sharpness, but I sure wish it was easier to see it and the right most histogram box! I'm thinking about getting a hoodman. Try some flashlight stuff, Mitch, I know you could come up with some cool images.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Brendan. An interesting perspective that we don't often see and very creative use of light plus a cool mix of colors. You might try some selective sharpening on that anther to see if it helps, but it certainly isn't a deal breaker as presented. Very well done. :cheers:

[Anita Bower]

Brendan: This is gorgeous! Wow! Brilliant use of the flashlight--it provides excellent light that makes the petals glow and gives some definition to the petal edges. Luscious is a word that comes to mind. The angle, the bit of white on the left and bottom are perfect. The slightly less than sharpness does not bother me. I love all the graceful shapes. Did you consider slightly lightening the pistils and stamen? Wonderful work. I would print it and hang it on my wall.

[jack williamson]

Good idea to get in there and see the inside of this tulip Brendan. Excellent lighting, exposure, comp,

and focus. The colors are great. Very well done!

Jack

[OvidiuCavasdan]

I like this a lot! Very nice details and colors, excellent compsed, the light makes it special. Very well done!

[Norm Dulak]

Beautiful image, well composed. I have no problem at all with anther sharpness. And your and Roman's creative use of flashlights has been a real eye opener for me.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks for the comments, folks! Much appreciated.
Anita - thanks, yes, after posting I did notice that those parts could be lightened a bit.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Very nice work Brendan and nice use of flashlight with tissue diffuser.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Brendan, great imagination on this one! I love most everything about it! :cheers:

That center anther isn't really a problem because the rest of the image is so strong but I just tried a combination of high-pass and smart sharpening and it did a fairly convincing job.