Emerging

Bruce,

For my tastes this is gorgeous but certainly has some of your flair. I particularly like the space around the flower in the image and the texture in the plant. I'd also say the balance between detail and softness is perfect - at least for me.

With regard to software and photo art, so long as your trying to process an image of flora to say something you want about the flora, I don't care what you do. Black and white and out of focus images are certainly not strictly representational of any flora I've seen in nature except in photographs. I guess in my view, the software just affords a lot more opportunity to control the image than traditional darkroom techniques did. Ram's abstracts, Nathan's crams, Bill's and Patricia's control of dof to isolate subjects from ground and create supporting bgs, Gigi's and Larry's processing and use of light, Ian's stacks, macro photography in itself all present renditions of flora that constitute art in my opinion - and are for the most part unlike anything we see in nature with or without are glasses on. The processing techniques don't really matter - what does is whether the subject is flora and whether the flora is central to the image. I honestly stay puzzled that we tend to think the techniques we use have anything to do with the gallery we post in.

I think Bill and David Kelly agree with this position. At least I believe they have in the past. If you guys see this and don't, please jump in.

pat

Bruce, this is stunning! I like this reaching out of the darkess with colors and glow. Painterly effect. I looked back at the original posting and this is a significant change...the two cannot be compared as they are in different classes, in my opinion. The mood created here has more artistry and vision...which makes me want to frame this before the other one. I am thinking the posting from 4/27 could also be subject to your application of the NIK tool...and I wouild like to see what you can do with it. Nicely done!

Very nice Bruce - very painterly. Love the rich, fully saturated colors, and excellent comp.

I love the negative space, and the darkness Bruce. The processing is very nice. A great photo with great results.

Nathan

Hi Bruce Looks like your taking the path Pat uses, which is great! you pushed the envelope on exposure and processing!! which gives great dark color and intrigueing light
Albert Darmo.

A very beautiful image Bruce. I agree with you 100% Pat.

I think you achieved the "NIK" soft glow with a degree of sharpness that you were looking for. I also like the effect this gives, well done Bruce!

Very beautiful image. I love everything about it. Great job on the processing.

Bruce:
I like this image very much for the mode and excellent processing. The only minor nit are the two ?water droplets on the petal and on the bud in the RUC which looks a little artificial mostly due to processing I think.

That's just a beautiful work of art. Great lighting, color, background, and a romantic feel with your processing.

I really like everything you did here. All of your decisions on processing work for me. I really like how it all fades to black! The softness is a great touch and the sharpness is not compromised at all, IMO. The only MINOR thing I would consider is a slight bit of fill light in the center of the flower so it doesn't reach the same level of black as the background. Exceptional image!

Beautiful.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

This works exceptionally well Bruce. Love how the open bloom pops out and grabs its rightful share of the attention,
May

Love the light and black bg. Works for me