oops, forgot my processing info:
increased brightness on the petal and raised a lot of clarity and contrast on the dew drops in raw.
in Photoshop I selectively darkened the blacks on the dew drops, lightened the shadows in the petal a bit with curves. and of course, sharpened the petals.
I have another image of this petal whose composition I like MUCH better, but the dew drops are not quite in focus. so which way to go?? :confused:
maybe there is a better way to crop this image:confused:
Nicely done, Cheryl! Did I tell you you'd love a macro lens? ;) They bring a whole new world to life!
I think in this case the raindrops are the center focus so I'd choose the drops in focus over the petal. An alternate crop might be to cut the frame on the right where the shadow comes down at the URC - it would take about 1/3 off the right side but I think it might put even more emphasis on that top row of drops. I also think a bit more room at the top of the frame would be nice - getting the row of drops more into a 1/3 position instead of a 1/4.
I love the way you dealt with the drops. They are neither over or under exposed. Nicely done!
I like the pano crop, Cheryl! Think about painting over the green area to get rid of the dark spots and then lighten it and the darker yellow below it with a levels adjustment - I think that would put this one over the top!
Cheryl, I went ahead and lightened it up using Viveza but I think a screen layer at a lower opacity would also work to clean the dark areas up. Then I got to thinking...and I recropped most of it out just to see what it would look like. I still like your pano crop - just thought I'd show you this one as well as it eliminates most of that corner. It's just another way to go!
I think I like either your crop or my original crop with less intense yellow. Since I like irises, I like maintaining the ability to tell that it is an iris. Or, go very tight like in yours, totally focusing on the dew drops only.
Hey Cheryl....well I too agree that it is about the drops. Have any more room at top of the OP? Yes.....try rotating CW and then cropping similar to above thoughts. Don't forget......you can rotate your camera when composing.....no one will know you were askew when shooting this tight! Very nice idea and I hope you get a few more attempts as our iris are starting to fade.