Himalayan Blue poppy

[Bob Miller]

I went to Longwood Gardens Pa. specifically to see and photograph this beautiful species of Poppy....call me crazy!
Nikon D-300
1/320 sec at f8
ISO200
180 mm macro

[Brendan Dozier]

What a very cool looking flower, Bob. Like the light, color, and interesting structure & detail. Think the dof works, just wish it wasn't cut off on rt side. Looking forward to seeing more shots of this one.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Looking at the colors of this poppy, I wouldn't call you crazy Bob! Apart from the colors, I also like the intricate structures of the stamen and pistil. Agree with Brendan that it would have been better if they weren't cut of. Part of the stamen are in shadows, which gives a bit of unbalance to the image. Maybe a reflector or fill flash would have done the trick. Hope to see more of this special flower!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Bob. I love the blue-green colors! Nice use of DOF to get the pistol and most of the stamens sharp. Like the others, my brain wants to see a little more on the right side of the frame. You might try some NR on the petals to smooth them out a bit. If this was mine, I'd be tempted to experiment with cropping some off the top to further draw our eye to the pistol and stamens, but still maintaining the lovely background colors. :S3: Overall, this is very nicely done.

[Julie Kenward]

Bob, I definitely like this version better than the newer one you just posted because that front petal is out of the way but...I'd like it even better with a bit more of the image on the right side...it feels very cut off there. I might have twisted the camera a bit so that the stamen ended up pointing directly towards the LLC and then included all of the base of the stamen/pistols and cut the right side at that point.

[Ken Childs]

Bob, this one has been covered well so I won't repeat the suggestions. I will echo the sentiment that you're not crazy at all for visiting Longwood just to see this flower...those colors are incredible!