Meadow Orphan Colour ( View Large )

Many Thanks for your thoughts and comments, much appreciated. I think most people prefer this one, but I don't happen to be one of them, its good to get such a wide variety of views though : - )

Best Regards

Alf

Beautiful, simple and highly artistic shot! I like the clean background simple composition and even diffuse light over the subject. Details are nice, except for some small halos around borders in larger version. I prefer this version over mono version. Congratulations for these recent set of beautiful flower shots.

My best regards,

Hamid.

Many thanks for your interest and kind words. much appreciated. I noticed the small halos too, but wondered if they were a product of the shallow dof, or my processing, as they don't seemm consitent throughout the image and only seem to appear in the out of focus parts. I will re-examine the RAW file.

Best Regards

Alf

Excellent bokeh, color, and detail in this one Alf! I'm more partial to the color version I think! I'm not usually a fan of B&W for flowers as color is one of the main attractions when it comes to flowers. I think I'd clone out some of the brighter background elements that distract the viewer from the flower if this were mine. Beautiful work ( particularly for a landscape shooter) guy!

All the best,
Neil

You are quite right colour is of course one of the main attractions of flowers, and it is for this reason I entered the B & W in the competition.  My logic being that there would be a huge glut of colour photographs entered and few B & W ones.  And that the judges might tire of browsing thousands of colour images and find something different to contemplate in a B & W one. Well I'm not at all sure I was right, but I got a result much better than I could have hoped for.  The highlights (out of focus buttercups) that you suggest I clone out, have been mentioned previously as an attractive element of the photograph, and I hadn't previously considered cloning them out, but now you mention it, your suggestion does have a sound basis. These images were taken specifically for the competition, and it was an interesting exercise.  But I'm back in Landscape mode now : - )

Sincere thanks for your thougtful considerations and feedback Neil.

Best Regards

Alf

Beautiful image with lovely color and focus! I think my preference is for this one as opposed to the monotone because I am a hopeless romantic and this one portrays the romance of flowers so well with the soft qualities. The monotone I prefer for a more artistic approach but both photos are excellent and worthy to win in any competition. Beautiful work! Thank you for sharing. :)

Many Thanks for your interest and kind words.

I processed the B & W version purely for the competition, and I was quite surprised when it was placed. I don't normally have a great deal of time to spend on flowers, so it was a nice change.  I'm really pleased you liked it!

Best Regards

Alf