Wedding Bells?

[jack williamson]

I think these are called wedding bells.

Nikon D300, 105mm f2.8 micro, tripod.

1/30 ss, f16, iso 250. Adjusted white balance, tint, blacks, contrast, clarity in acr

usm in cs3

[Ken Childs]

Hi Jack, I can't help with the name of this flower but it is certainly a nice looking one. Your DOF looks good but this seems a bit dark to me. Brightening up the overall image would be a good start and I think that doing some extra brightening on the flower's center would help even more. There are a few dark spots and blemishes on the flower that could be cloned out and there's a spot (dust?) to the left of the lower part of the leaf that also needs to go. I'd definitely crop a significant slice from the top and maybe some from the right, too. It's not too bad but there is some noise in the BG so running your favorite NR program/plugin would be a help. Applying these simple tweaks will certainly improve this already interesting flower shot. :S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nice detail and like the clean simplicity of this comp, Jack. I think the overall image quality is really good. Ken makes some good suggestions to make it even stronger. Nice work!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jack, this is a beautiful flower! Agree with brightening up the image and losing some of the empty space on top.

[Julie Kenward]

I'm also wondering if the greens aren't a bit flat? The yellow stamen appear to have a greenish cast and yet the foliage looks really lackluster. I'd start with brightening the flower and then readjusting that WB again. Lovely DOF and a nice comp here.

[Anita Bower]

I, too, am not sure what flower this is. I'm assuming it is small?

I like the placement of the flower and the leaf, and the tilt of the flower and your angle. This flower posed challenges as it was not as perfect as it may have seemed to the naked eye. Too often I discover the blemishes in flowers on the monitor, not in the field.

I did some quick adjustments: cropped from the top, levels for white, green and yellow, saturation for yellow, Noise filter>dust and scratches--on flower petals only, some cloning, vignette. If I spent more time on it, I might try to tone down the yellow pollen on the petals. and the bright green areas in the bg.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jack. This is an interesting little flower that I'm not familiar with. Ken pretty well summed up my thoughts and I like what Anita did with her repost. The suggested tweaks will make this nice image even stronger. :S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jack,
I've seen this flower.....but can't remember the name! I do like the direction Anita tookk this.....and a touch more space on the RH side would also help IMO. Nice find and doing some of the tweaks will certainly help!

[jack williamson]

Thank you all for your responses. The tiff looks better than this. These are very small flowers that grow

three or four per stem and they hang down on the stem.

Jack

[Brandy Katzen]

If it's about 2 feet tall, it's called leucojum aestivum - AKA "summer snowflake"

If it's about 8 inches tall, it's called leucojum vernum - AKA "spring snowflake"

[jack williamson]

Thank you Brandy, it is short so I would say "spring snowflake"

Jack