Last Of Summer

I am assuming here, given the setting of f/22, You were shooting for good sharpness, front to back. Unfortunately, the use of extension tubes would rule out the acceptable distance for sharpness to get the clouds sharp as well. If you were going for size at a distance of </= 12 feet or better, you got what you got—The sharp flower and the blurred sky. The sky itself, from a purist point of view, with it's jet contrails, is not particularly photogenic. The flower is tack sharp. A cleanup of the stamen parts and other marks would be more ideal, but a grinding chore. The flash work is excellent.

To be honest, you have taken an excellent technical shot, with a less than perfect subject and background.

Thanks, Phil.  I was experimenting, and got about what I visioned.  I wanted the sky to be out of focus, but maybe I shouldn't have.  I could have used my macro lens, but I thought that I would lose some of the sky and clouds, so I used the extension tube instead with the 50 mm, trying to have more of a wide angle close-up.  May have been a bad choice.  It was pretty outside, and I really liked the flower, so thought I would experiment with it.  Oh, I used f22 to make sure that the flower was in full focus throughout, not trying to get the sky.  Yeah, the jet contrails weren't planned on, but they were there at the time I was trying to shoot.  I appreciate you taking the time and providing the feedback.  Everyone here seems really nice about doing that.  Love this site!   

Hi Shirley,

It is always a good thing for experimentation in photography. You may want to use a wide angle lens for your next attempt.  Most can focus closely on a subject while keeping the rest of the image sharp. The diagonal vapor trail, although subtle,  disrupts the composition.  I like the swirling clouds in the sky and the flower's position is ideal for your comp. Keep working on this type of image and you may want to pick a day that has dramatic clouds and softer lighting.  Overall, I agree with Phil's consensus that this excels in technique........................Jim

That's crazy contrast between the blue and vivid pink; interesting idea to play with such a wild flower against the sky. It may just be downsizing, but it looks like the colors of the flower are plugging up a little; you might play with reducing the saturation slightly? (Darn those contrails; I'd clone it out.)

I think you could definitely clone out or soften the contrails with the clone tool.  On my monitor, I am loosing a bit of detail to the saturation of the flower.  I think losing a bit of saturation would help overall.  I also think cleaning up some of the spots on the flower would help.  Nice concept and pulled off well.  Feels summery to me!

Nathan