Water Lilly

Beautiful bloom Greg. It was worth the drive. I wish the bloom took up more of the frame but If you were already shooting at 280 that would have been hard to do other than cropping and I might consider a crop from the top and right to emphasize the flower more and take it off center a bit more. The bg elements are interesting in themselves but to my eye tend to compete with the bloom. So, I might be inclined to darken and possibly blur the bg a bit more. Compositionally, the image consists of circles, diagonals and vertical lines with the star shaped bloom being a contrasting shape in the image and I think that helps separate and emphasize it but I think it still needs to be larger not to be dominated by the bg. Interesting image and I may of course be wrong on all points. (smile)

Pat

Nice bloom Greg and well worth the effort. I do agree with Pat about the crop. It is a bit busy the way it stands now.

Nice shot Greg. The only thing distracting IMO is the diagonal leaf intruding from the right. The bloom is appealing enough to justify your determined efforts.

Good exposure here, Greg. With all the dark and bright mixed in I'd say you handle that real well. I'd probably play with a crop, though.

Greg:
The flower is gorgeous and the reflection is nice. There seems to be a lot happening in the bg and the busy bg is distracting. Worth playing with the crop to simplify is somewhat.

Greg: Neat little scene and I kind of like all the stuff in the BG. I find myself examining all the different elements and liking something all over the frame. Good effort. >=))>

Beautiful capture Greg. Looking at this image makes me feel that I am beside a lily pond.
May