Magnolia.

[David Cowling]

Taken at Monserrate Park, Sintra, Portugal. I was constrained by a wall and fencing which stopped me getting an angle to separate the petal from the seed head. The insect was a bonus as it flew in as I was composing the image.

Panasonic DMC GH2. Panasonic 100-300 at 300mm

1/400 @ f 8 ISO160

[Jonathan Ashton]

Good exposure and focus, your comment regarding that petal is apt but I still think this is a fine image.

[Diane Miller]

Fine indeed! I'd be tempted to crop a bit from the right to remove that bright area and move the center of the flower a little off-center.

[Glennie Passier]

Mighty fine indeed. It's images like this that make me want to try my hand at macro.

[Ron Conlon]

I like Diane's suggestion, otherwise a wonderful view.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Great image David. The little insect is a great bonus! I'd be inclined to slightly tone down the yellow part of the stamen.

[Steve Maxson]

A striking image, David! I like the colorful flower and the bee is icing on the cake for me. I would agree about cropping some from the right. Very nicely done!

[John Robinson]

Missed this earlier David. Good one ! Love the composition with the curved back petal.
John

[Bob Allen]

For me, the bee (andrenid bee?) makes the image. Since the stamens (and thus the anthers which contain the pollen) have already dehisced and fallen off, the bee has no pollen to collect, so it almost seems perplexed.

I too would crop from the right. The curly petal overlapping the styles does bother me a bit; I might clone a style from the right, flip, and place over the left, to put all the styles in front of the curly white petal.

[Arthur Morris]

Great image, great self critique, great bee, and I agree that a boxy crop from the right to eliminate the sunlit petal lower right would make this one even stronger. a