Banksia speciosa

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Greetings. From the Australia section at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum... amazing flowers (hummers like them, too).



D810 85mm T/S lens for slight macro, 1/200, f/19, ISO800, HH 36MP cropped to 9MP
Topaz Simplify BuzSim, Nik Silver Efex, a little solid fill layer color blending on bg, Topaz Adjust, curves, sharpening

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Dennis Bishop]

Great shot and processing. I like the colors, and the texture contrast is wonderful. The tight crop works well, too.

I've thought of renting a tilt/shift lens to see what it could do, but I figure that'd soon lead me and my credit card to the camera store. :)

[Paul Lagasi]

When I looked at the thumbnail the first thing that came to mind was a mini-world. Very cool flower, like how the image is presented, nice work.

[Cheryl Slechta]

I was thinking mini world also It almost looks like a sea anemone. Lovely processing, Michael.

[Nancy Bell]

Great unique view with lots of details. I really like the offset symmetry. I agree with Dennis, a tilt shift in the hand is a sure way to the wallet!

[Randall Farhy]

Michael, fascinating use of the TS lens and processing. Lovely colors with lots of understated detail and composition. The crop works well, and I really like nature's imperfect symmetry within the flower, but the leafy BG does compete with the flower head. Perhaps a mild circular vignette (highlight priority) to push it back slightly? Well done!

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful image and processing! I think Randall has a good idea -- a little looser crop and some subtle dark vignette.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis, Paul, Cheryl, Nancy, Randall, Diane,

Thanks much for your comments. Thought I'd give it different take, looser crop, darkened vignette as Randall & Diane suggest, darkened with Nik Color Efex, detailed with Silver Efex, blend color back with luminosity mode blending:



The monochrome version of this also has its appeal, ala Nik Silver Efex. Thanks for looking. By the way this is from the top of a blossom like a stripped corn on the cobb about 5 inches long.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Judy Howle]

This is a most interesting flower which is well-photographed and processed. I love the repost!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I love your processing on this one Michael. I find the bg still a bit busy. I added vignette blur, vignette filter (green selected from the leaves, and darken lighten center). Also did a tighter crop. Might not be your cup of tea.

[Dennis Bishop]

I think I still prefer the original because the contrast in textures is more apparent, but I also like Jackie's re-post with the softer background.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Judy, Thanks much for your comment. Much appreciated.

Jackie, I like what you've done with the repost. Good idea with the vignette filter... I should remember that for future reference. From another post I did try surface blur again to good effect so that goes into the bag of tricks, too. Thanks much.

Dennis, thanks for the follow-comment. I think probably the closer crop with a bit of vignette is the trick for me.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

Interesting to see all the variations. I'm favoring the original but with just a touch more space and a darkish vignette.

I think the way it presents on the page doesn't do it justice, crowded against the edge. I wish we could at least center images.... Maybe "frame" an image to make it fit the 1200 x 900 space.

[Diane Miller]

Hmmm -- I just noticed, Jackie's post is centered, but Michael's two are not. And mine is.

Does it vary with our browsers? I'm using FF.

[Kerry Perkins]

Really nice image and concept, I like your first repost but would rotate it 90 degrees CW to put the empty dark area at the bottom. I'm curious as to what the tilt-shift lens is doing in this image. Did you use any of the tilt and/or shift, or just using the lens for its magnification factor?

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

For the full set of considerations... Diane, hadn't noticed the different frame placements. If I put the image attachment inside a centered text segment I get the following, but I suspect that's not what you do.

Kerry, No tilt or shift, just the magnification here. This was taken just about at minimum focus distance of 16 inches, 0.50x max. reproduction ratio on this Nikon 85mm lens. I like the edge to edge sharpness of the t/s (loathe to vignette blur ;-). Thanks for commenting.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Diane Miller]

i like the B/W but it's lost some definition (Structure?) near the center. I just do the Attachment thing. I'll start noticing if other images are left-justified.

[Anita Bower]

Looks like a giant eye. I see there are lots of opinions. I prefer the second image. I think the surrounding leaves provide context, and the flower seems to pop more.

[Arthur Morris]

Lots of wonderful versions. I like the one in Pane 8 best. I too wood like to see it rotated 90 degrees clockwise to put the dark on the bottom.