pink dahlia

[Gary Hamilton]

Canon 1D MK III
Canon 24-70 at 40mm
1/250 sec
f/5.6
ISO 400
AV mode

Interested in your thoughts on the square crop.
The image quality suffers a little due to posting size limitations.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely looking flower.

I really like the dof at that setting.

I wonder if a bit of something darker would enhance the really nice details. Perhaps an adjustment in levels.

If mine I think I might move the centre of flower up and to left to offset it a bit and to also lose the top left corner.

Very nice photo.

Dave

[Ken Childs]

Hi Gary, Dave made some good points....this so bright that many of the details are hidden, especially the nice drops of water and that empty corner is a bit distracting. A couple of easy fixes will make this one shine!

As it is right now, it's ready made for Orton. :)

[Anita Bower]

A beautiful Dahlia! I think a square crop works well. I think this image does not work in high key. I took the liberty to tone down the whites using levels, which brought out the gorgeous colors. I think it would be more effective to do so in the RAW conversion. I also brushed in some pink in ULC, cloned a spot in LRC and cropped all around This was quick work designed to give you an idea of what I would do with this lovely image. Hope you don't mind.

[Gary Hamilton]

I re-cropped to maintain as many of the water drops as I could while also moving the center of the flower to more of a ROT position, as suggested by Dave and Ken. Also adjusted levels a bit to darken the flower. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I hope this works better.

[Gary Hamilton]

Thanks, Anita. We were posting at the same time so I did not have the benefit of your comments and re-post I like what you have done color-wise and will continue refining this image so that it matches yours more closely.

[Anita Bower]

Gary:

When I darkened your lovely image, I kept the dark areas at the lighter shade. I used levels and masks and can't remember all I did now. My opinion about the crop is that it could go in the direction you took it--more off center, or, remain mostly centered. Both work in my opinion. Not every image needs to follow the rule of thirds! :D

[Julie Kenward]

Both reposts work for me. That is one beautiful dahlia! I, too, thought a slight shift up to the left corner would help but the square crop in this case is perfect.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Gary. This is a beautiful flower and the water drops are a plus. Lots of color tones and cropping variations for you to explore with this one. I, too, like both reposts and because this is fairly subjective, I expect that there are other variations that will work as well. :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Gary,
Nice job with the suggestions.....as I like bolder....Anita's colors work more for me....but your softer repost also works nicely. Way to follow the recommendations!!!

[Gary Hamilton]

Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions and kind words.