Canon 5D3, Sigma 180 macro, tripod, cloudy day and still air. (Major credit goes to the latter two items.) ISO 800, 1/640, f/9. I had to sacrifice DOF somewhere and decided the near petal and leaf would be the victims. It was a little too breezy to do a focus stack.
Minimal processing. In LR a slight crop for composition, darkened highlights a tad. To PS for some NR (not really needed), a touch of Detail Extractor and burned the edges a little.
Seeing it here I think I could drop the gamma a little.
I like the composition and given the circumstances your options were limited, perhaps the limited DOF could have been exploited a little more effectively if you took the image from a higher angle so you were looking more downwards? I think then the bloom would have been perhaps in better overall focus - just a thought.
The blossom was about 4 ft off the ground and I'm 5 ft tall. Didn't have any way to bend it down short of going to get bailing wire. I have a Plamp, but I need an extension to be able to use it on the tripod for the working distances of the 180 macro for a full flower. And there was no good way to attach it to a sturdy branch in this case. I did shoot other blossoms more straight into them, but I don't think they're as interesting. I would like to do some focus stacks with these, but they're not easy outdoors.
I was attracted to the slightly worn blossom because it had more interest than a pristine one, and the coloration of the age spots worked well with the center and the BG.
Points been covered above Diane. One of my favourite flowers too. One of the reasons I didn't get on with the 180 was the working distance. Ihave a 150 but would go for a 100 in future had I the choice. I think dropping the gamma would beef it up a bit too.
Cheers
John.
Thanks for the comments, everyone! I'll think about more DOF next time. I do think you're right, John -- it does look a little washed out now that I see it again.
Hi Diane. There are some good comments above and it was interesting to see your thoughts on why you set this up the way you did. I like the comp, clean background, good sharpness within your DOF, and the good detail in the whites. On my monitor, the image looks a little flat - you might try increasing the contrast a bit to see if that helps. Overall, this is well done!