Seed Head

Adrienne, I think that this could do with a little more light. Does this appeal?

Hmmn, interesting. It was very bright when I took this although still only 7:30 in the morning. I tried to tone that down, but your version seems somehow palely bright to me. I think this is a style thing for me because I have often been told, and am myself aware, that my images tend to be on the dark side. I'll reprocess it and see what I can come up with. In fact I'm experimenting with various techniques and have yet to get it all to come together. And I am still using elements which may be a limiting in cases like this. Thanks for the input. I really do appreciate hearing how others view my images.

Is 'palely bright' good or bad?

Great capture, well timed, wishing you all of the best.

Jeff, for me it is bad, but this may be an error in my thinking. Your version seems to lack depth of colour. In fact the original isn't good enough to stand all this work. It was too bright and I cropped the original by about half. I redid it when I got home, so I'll attach that. Then I did another shot taken at the same time, which I'll attach to a second response. I re-sized them as they can't stand viewing in too big a size! Is it chilly down there? It is hellishly hot here. I have been going out at 5 am (when it is already 25 degrees and 80 percent humidity) to photograph lotus and then holing up inside for the rest of the day. There isn't much photography you can do well at this time of year.

And here again.

I prefer the last one but we are probably flogging a dead horse, albeit in an interesting way.

It's pretty cold here by our standards. I will be in the Snowy Mountains for a few days so it will be seriously cold. Hopefully, I will get some good shots. You are welcome to the humidity. Sydney is bad enough but Tokyo is hard to beat.

For my taste i also prefer the original to any of the others, but like you i like darker tones i find them more moody.  I like the near palpable texture of the lotus head in your shot.  If you really want to correct it to bring more brilliance in the color and light, i would just do a slight level adjustment to bring the highlights up a tiny bit (see my suggestion).  But i still think there is nothing wrong with the original.  Regards - michel

beautiful composition. very zen for. and i like original version. the dragonfly and spider are plus. excellent work anyway. regards.

Nice work!

Thanks, Jeff, and everybody else. As you say, Jeff, this lotus head has had its day. But it is interesting to see your work through others eyes in this way. And to see what a difference just a little adjustment makes.

Very nice image. I would prefer the third one. Just because we can see more detail in the dark side of the lotus. But as already said it's just matter of taste. Beautiful image. Regards, Jean-Marc 

It strikes me that this image is "about" the hole-filled structure of the head (which the dragon fly has stopped by to examine at close range).  As such, I'm not interested in the details in the dark zones - such details would only distract, as would lightening anything in the background.  And leaving it a bit dark makes it somewhat surreal. For my vote, the original is best.

I am excited by this image.  What a stunning work.