Blue Fringed Gentian

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I have a little time and thought I would post. Just as a participant, (they haven't taken my name off as a moderator yet) I purchased the 1DX, and I love this camera!!!!!! I was determined to find some BFG before the frost a couple of weeks ago. I darkened the BG, and used a gradient from the bottom, as there was some straggly bits. The flower is actually quite tiny maybe 3/4 of an inch high. The bloom wasn't opened as it was a pretty cloudy, cool day.

[Anita Bower]

I haven't seen a fringed gentian in years. What a treat!
The black bg creates a rather dramatic image. You might want to paint black over the light areas still remaining in the bg. I'm wondering why the front fringes aren't in sharper focus. Love the blue.

[Nancy Bell]

Love the drama of the blue against the black! And using a gradient is a great idea for dealing with blotches, etc. Great camera! What lens did you use? Those fringes are so lovely and delicate, but Anita does have a good question about them.
p.s. I see from Facebook you are indeed busy. So glad when you can post!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Thanks for the replies. Nancy I used the 100mm macro and it is full frame. I will not regret the 1DX purchase, I find the colours, WB and IQ are very good. (Now just to find the time to shoot!) Anita I gave it a bit more sharpening in Viveza.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks for the replies. Nancy I used the 100mm macro and it is full frame. I will not regret the 1DX purchase, I find the colours, WB and IQ are very good. (Now just to find the time to shoot!) Anita I gave it a bit more sharpening in Viveza.

I think the focus was more on the back fringes than the front ones, which sharpening won't help. I hope you enjoy your new camera and look forward to lots more photos.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Jackie,

Greetings. Beautiful, Jackie. The color is outstanding. I guess I would give it just a bit more room at the top but that is a nit. Congrats on the new camera. Good to see a post from you.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[gary ellwein]

Jackie, good to have you posting. This is a most dramatic image with the dark bg. I particularly like your use of a gradient. The delicate colored border is effective.

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous! I love the gradient darkening at the bottom!

[Judy Howle]

Beautiful Jackie! I like the background with a hint of light showing.

[Gabriela Plesea]

I love this Jackie, would print it if it were mine. Such delicate flower, love the colours, composition, the simplicity - thank you for sharing!

Kind regards,

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate them!

[Dennis Bishop]

I wouldn't change a thing. The dark background is something I'd not have thought of, but it works very nicely. The transition near the bottom of the stem from the gradient you used was a great idea.

In addition to being able to appreciate a beautiful image, I learned something important about backgrounds while looking at this and reading the comments. (I'm referring to the background of the page, not of your image.) Probably since forever, I've been using a light background. Gary's comment about the blue border left me surprised because i couldn't see it until I copied the image and opened it in Photoshop, where I use the medium gray option for the background. Sure enough, there was the blue border, and it makes a big difference. Not only that, but I was able to see the lighter areas in the image background which hadn't been apparent at all with the light BPN background. Given the book on photography I'm now reading, it all makes sense, but I hadn't anticipated how great the difference could be. Because of all that, I've changed my BPN background.