Giant Stamens!! - (enlarge)

A real pistil of a shot Gail....  Nicely done and excellent DOF.

...of detail. sharpness, texture and colours. Well done!

Hi Gail, this is beautiful, I love the colors, so vivid image, also the original image, is so great, and sharp. Those Lilies certainly are full of life and color, adding happiness to this world, Thanks to the maker for that, and to you for sharing!!!

Best regards,

LuDa

You are so right Luisa!! They are a bit of a 'miracle' in themselves if you ask me. I am glad to hear from you and to know you liked this image, safe travels my friend!

hugs, Gail

I enjoy hearing from you and the input you share, thank you!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, put a grin on my face!!!

You don't visit often, so when you do and like the shot, I know you REALLY like it. I do appreciate your encouraging visit very much Tony.

Just the perfect (to my eye) amount of DOF which renders the foreground elements sharply and crisply  is all that is needed to give the viewer a sense of the shapes and textures present.  Nature provided a nicely graduated background colour to set them off.  And finally, your choice of an almost square crop provides just the right amount of space around your subject to allow it to 'breath'.  Can you comment of the light source?  It appears to be contrasty when looking at the stamen but seems soft on the background.  Whatever, it's successful as applied.  Best, LM.

monumental.  huge.  big big big!  cool pic.  best, epd

p.s.:  nice to see some beautiful pictures from that lens.  i found it to be a little persnickity.

A true macro that has a winning combination of fine sharp detail and softer textures.

Beautifully done Gail!

Best Regards

Alf

Not quite sure what to tell you. I cropped this from original. The vibrant pinks in the background on the left seemed more contrasty to me, or perhaps I should say saturated. That is one of the reasons I used a bit of a texture layer on the background. If you look at the next image, I think the stamens look pretty much the same. But I will check out the originals in Photoshop and see what I discover. Thanks so much for stopping by. Oh yes, it was natural light, the Nursery had an opague plastic roof, with areas that let direct sunlight in. I am not sure if this one was under the spot of direct sunlight but it could have been when I recall looking with interest at the construction of the roof. It appeared that it had ropes where they could pull the top back further, and lower the sides as well in different sections. These Lilies were on an end, close to the area of full sunlight.

What a lovely compliment. I have problems at times with the lens, but I think that is mostly my fault, not the lens.

Thank you for those words of critique Alf. Your encouragements is always appreciated!

Gail,  Sorry that I am a late comer to this wonderful image.  You are a master of the macro lens.  I prefer this image to the one that shows the flowers as a group.  The DOF from the head of the stamen to the folds is excellent - nothing short of amazing.  I also love the reddish pink background, excellent bokeh mixing the color of the other flowers, I assume.  You do a terrific job finding excellent subjects to shoot.  It's the art of seeing artistically and knowing how the camera sees.  Great job.  Wishing you all the best as always.  Larry

Beautiful image with a nice DoF. Well seen and shot.

thanks so much for your visit Charles, your input, knowing your talent, encourages me.

Such a lovely compliment. I often second guess myself when it comes to my images, wondering if I am making the right choice. I am glad you like the choice I made in regards to this image Larry. Taking the time to visit, comment and offer your support and encouragement is truly appreciated!