Morning Tulip

Comments/Critiques welcomed. Thanks, Tom.

I like it, a very nice BW shot. Water adds originality, tones are fine and rich. Great shot!

Good DOF and sharpness. Like the grey's although the topbackground is a bit too dark imo. 6/6

This is a nice photo, but sorry, this does not quite work for me.

The photo is technically very well done, sharp, and in that sense good. The "tulip with drops" and the angle are somewhat classic. But for this one, I really miss the color. To me the contrast is almost too much, the background too black. The overall picture has a "studio" sense to it. Could have been taken in the middle of the night in your studio (or home), so the "morning tulip" aspect got lost to me.

Yet, as I look at it more I start to appreciate it more. (Now I will need to try and change my rating, hope that is still possible...)

Thanks, all for the comments. Regarding the background and choice of B&W, the flower itself was a white tulip and although I was outside, it was cloudy and in a fairly dark area. The top of the background was truly black. There was an annoying green blur above the black which I cropped out. I've posted here the original color shot at: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3368663, which is unaltered except for cropping and a little USM. Thanks again. Tom

I think I like the color version you just put up better. Thank you for showing it. I actually like the bit of green that it has in the background, and the subtle colors of the tulip come out very nicely. I agree that a green band above would probably not work.

For what it is worth, I like both versions for different reasons:

 

BW - I like how the colour information has been taken out to allow the viewer to focus full attention on the form of the flower and those lovely dew drops. I don't mind the dark upper half of the background at all. Serves to highlight the foreground very well. I do think that parts of the petals are a touch overblown in contrast though. Could be my monitor.

 

Colour - well, what can I say except that this is a 'classic' capture of this type of flower? I do like the muted colours. Tom, did you desaturate a little or was this the result of the available light?

 

And, look at the superb clarity Tom has managed to capture with his camera. Outstanding. Tom, was there much post processing involved with the BW conversion? Would be interested to know what path you took to get the result. Good stuff :) M

Thanks, Michael for your comments. The color image is untouched. It was a very gray day to shoot so colors were not popping out like they do sometimes, but it did help a lot in capturing details on the flowers. The B&W was mostly just playing with curves. It was initially a little flat after converting to B&W so I used curves to make it more dramatic. Glad you liked them.

Thanks for your acknowledgement, Tom. You did a very good job on the BW conversion. Till later, M