Easter Cactus

This was the first time I have seen an Easter Cactus bloom, so I took a lot of images, tried a few things, got some unusual views :S3:

If I get another chance to photo this blossom, do you have any suggestions?

Wow Cheryl, This is beautiful! Very fresh and delicate. Fun subject to experiment with. Hard to imagine a "better" image, but since you asked for ideas... :S3:
You might try a slightly smaller aperture to bring all of the center into focus (Or stack a few images at different focus distances and mask in the sharp areas) while still leaving the blur of the petals.
And in a completely different vein you might try an off camera flash at low power as a back light to possibly add some transparency in those gorgeous petals. (Maybe also with a slightly more head on view)
Hope you have fun and make more cool images.:c3:

Cheryl, Lovely colors and you did a great job getting the center in focus. I think Steve makes some very good suggestions. As presented I might crop in tighter. I think that the OOF petals on the left wouldn't appear so dominant.

thank you Steve and Denise.

I had considered adjusting the aperture and taking multiple shots, but since I was hand holding in soft light, I figured it wouldn't work. this was at f/5.6 and 1/250" ISO 400. I didn't dare push it any farther than that. From viewing on the back of the camera, I didn't realize how small of an area was in focus.

Nice image and application, Cheryl.

I agree with Denise. A tighter crop would help. But the image itself is great.

You might also try adjusting the ISO, if you do another. With digital you have greater range to work with than the old film images. That would give you either more depth of field or faster shutter speed. If on a tripod, I would go the other way with the ISO as well.

As long as the flower stays there for you, keep shooting! :w3 You might be surprised at what other settings and angles can give you, when you download the images. The biggest thing I learned about Digial vs Film is you don't have to pay for development and you don't have to print every image, so shoot away and edit when you get home. Don't be shy and conservative.

thanks, Mark. I do wish I had a tripod with me. But you are certainly correct, I should have experimented anyway, what is there to lose???

And today I heard from the owner that the flower has unfortunately already faded. I do have a couple of other images, including a closer view, that I will put on here tonight or tomorrow.

Very nice macro shot Cheryl, like the colors, details, and the touch of blur adds a nice softness to it. Good suggestions made, like the tighter crop. Very nice capture. :S3:

Cheryl, a beautiful blossom. Nice sharpness in the center and the colors are lovely. Denise's repost really works for me on this one. Nice capture:S3:

Nice colors, light and selective focus. I like the idea of cropping the way Denise shows.