Japanesse Lotus Blossom #2

[Jay Sheinfield]

This may be a stretch for the weekly theme...............it is a repost from earlier this year on the Macro forum that I wanted to present in a completely different way.

I used Nik's Monday Morning Filter, hand applied by burning and dodging. Then did a gradient
blur; highest in shadows and then medium high in medium tones, none in highlights........to create, hopefully a bit of a halo look.

Nikon D3s
390 mm
1/200 sec @ f/11
ISO 400
handheld, i think.............

Comments welcome...

[Anita Bower]

Love how the light emphasizes the center petals. Sumptuous colors. Lovely light and shadow. Wow!
I'm wondering if a CW rotation would help give the image more dynamism. As presented, the flower feels a bit heavy and static. Not a biggy, though.

[Christopher Miller]

Another beauty, Jay! Sweet colors and lighting. I might lighten the three petals on the bottom left that are darker than the others.

[denise ippolito]

Jay, This fits the theme perfectly! You are killing me with those front petals-beautiful! I like that you left the stem in. I might feather the glow just a hair more if it were mine. Nice work!!!:)

[Indranil Sircar]

Beautiful work, Jay. I like the colors and details on the petals. The light and shadow makes this really a stand out. I would second Christopher on lightening the three petals on the bottom left.TFS.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Jay, another beautiful Lotus. The lighting and colors are gorgeous.:)

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks folks, appreciate the kind words and suggestions.......will do some tweaking.