Maybe the beautiful varying shades of pink also drew you to it. I like the angle of view you chose as it shows the lovely center petals to good advantage. I also like the sharpness on some of those center petals, especially along the edges.
Part of me wants a bit more sharpness throughtout the rose, but I know that would create a distracting BG. At first, I found the lightness of the thorns a bit distracting.
Here's some more selective sharpening on the rose. Thanks for the critique. Let me know what you think..
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Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
Charles: I want to read what others have to say, but it may be oversharpened now. I don't think sharpening will help with the further petals being a bit soft. I should have used a term other than "sharpness." What I mean was more in focus. I still like it. :)
Charlie, it's a lovely image. I do think the second one is oversharpened...you might try "sharpen edges" and see what that does to it. Another option would be a high filter pass and then take it down in opacity or with a brush/mask.
What I love about this is the angle as well. I also think the thorns are a little distracting as they are so light - might try giving them a bit more brown color if that's possible or just lower the midtone range a bit on them.
Another thing I love is the dew but I didn't realize it WAS dew until I read your post. I just thought it looked like it had a sprinkling of sparlkes - like someone had dusted it with baker's sugar.
Hey Charles, I think the sharpness in the original looks fine. I like the soft focus on the stem and thorns. Good placement of the flower head. Good color contrast.
Hi Charles. I agree with Mike and also think the sharpness in the original is fine. This is a lovely image and I also like the angle, colours and soft light.:)