Cyclamen Bud

[Anita Bower]

Plant was on windowsill, with some backlighting and outdoor color in bg.
Topaz Detail, Viveza, Color Efex Pro Glamor glow (just a touch), and a texture by unknown person.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Just beautiful Anita! Love the gradient texture for the BG and the unfurling of the petals. It all seems to go very well together.

[Randall Farhy]

Nicely done Anita. I like how you used a subject in a simple environment. Soft pastel colors, smooth background transitions, nice texture (not overdone), this one is easy on the eyes. Only critique would be that the backlighting seems a little strong in the upper regions though it could be my monitor. I like how you broke away from traditional formats to better suit the subject. Have you played with offsets within the frame for dramatic or abstract graphic effect?

[Dennis Bishop]

I like both the analogous colors and the simplicity. It looks like you applied the texture over the bud and that turned out wonderfully. The yellow over the light pink makes the petals look translucent. Very nicely done.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Anita, I love the colors and the simplicity. Everything is very subtle and peaceful.

[Randall Farhy]

Hope you don't mind an experimental crop- vertical line of thirds runs along the highlight/shade break, broke the stem to push attention back on the subtlety of the flower.

[Anita Bower]

Hope you don't mind an experimental crop- vertical line of thirds runs along the highlight/shade break, broke the stem to push attention back on the subtlety of the flower.

I never mind someone working on my photos here, trying to make them better. Thank you for taking the time. I will live with your suggestion to see how I feel about it. Thanks.

[Nancy Bell]

Beautifully delicate and soft! For me this is "classic Anita" and I love it!

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all!

[gary ellwein]

Anita, I love the subtle soft textures and hues of the image.

[Diane Miller]

This is wonderful -- repeat all the praise above! It feels a little tight in the frame to me -- I'd add a little canvas on top, and maybe lighten the stem even more (with some subtle desaturation) as it approaches the edge of the frame.

[Anita Bower]

This is wonderful -- repeat all the praise above! It feels a little tight in the frame to me -- I'd add a little canvas on top, and maybe lighten the stem even more (with some subtle desaturation) as it approaches the edge of the frame.

I never know how much to crop. I'll experiment with adding space at the top.

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Very pretty! Part of me likes as is, part wants to see it minus the texture.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Anita,

Greetings. Just wanted to say I think this image is just beautiful! The color and texture are superb. Good show!

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Anita Bower]

Very pretty! Part of me likes as is, part wants to see it minus the texture.

Here is is without textures, and without Glamor Glow, Viveza or DeNoise. If I were going to not use a texture, I'd do a bit more work on this version. The pale yellow color in the lower part of the background led me to choose the color of the texture.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all for your input. For my final image , I added some space at the top and darkened the stem area just above the bud.