Protea X (View Large)

What can I say, it's always springtime somewhere on this Island. Thanks

for looking. Aloha!

I've never seen a protea with such vivid colours,spectacular close up Dominick

Fantastic detail and glorious vivd colour Dominick! I've never seen one of these plants before, except what you have posted previously. They certainly are amazing and make one truly think of a tropical paradise.

We had another snow storm today, then rain, but I cannot complain, the States that had those really bad tornadoes are surely suffering. I feel so badly for the people who have lost so much. Some of us are truly fortunate. But it does not stop me from dreaming of visiting such a lovely spot as you enjoy!!

A beautiful image. Would look great on a 'pareo'.

Kind regards, Gail

no words! simply fantastic!

Wonder capture of opposing colors!!! The details are superb as well.

Outstanding photo and a new favorite of mine!

wonderful photo!

Hi Dom,

This is a beautiful flower and your capture of the colors is amazing - I do have one point to comment on- I am going to tell you how it looks on my monitor and I don't know if it's just me or what, but let's see what you think. 

It almost seems a little too bright, maybe a tad over sharpened? The white fuzzy things lose all definition in large view and appear  as very bright white clumps - not all of them, but mostly the upper brightest ones. Seems that the highlights are overblown and could be toned down some selectively. or maybe this is the effect you wanted? 

The subject is very interesting and I'd love to see it with more clarity and detail.

take care

G

Greg,  Thanks for an honest and accurate assessment.   The colors of Protea are amazing, super-saturated to the point where I find myself de-saturating or lowering vibrance to make them look more “real”.    I should have taken more time with the blown out white fuzzy pom-poms at top.   The image was cropped,  just 11% of the original, so it was tweaked and sharpened for the web.  Often I go too far.  This was one of those times.   This was my second attempt at posting this one, as I was not pleased with the first.  Maybe the third time…..Thanks for your input, it will make me a better photographer.  Aloha.

This is one fantastic image! The colors are just amazing, the cropped composition is superb and the details are so sharp.

Congratulations! Goes to my favorites.

Mighty fine shot there Dom.

It's hard to dial down the colors when you know that this is how they really look.

I find that when I post certain colors that the software on this site seems to skew the colors somewhat; especially reds and blues.

HI Dominic,

A marvelous spectacle of Nature.

The use of F/11 did cause a  loss in the definition, especially in the white areas of the frame. The Canon 100mm F/2.8 macro is designed for peak performance between F/2.8 and F/5.6

This is offset by the colors displayed adds to the perception of the image being really sharp.

However, using any fine lens at F/11 does reduce the lens overall performance.

Shooting this scene at F/4 or F/5.6 would have produced a higher level of definition.

Best Regards,  Mike

Mike, thanks for the input on the "sweet spot" for that lens.

Excellent shot. Great colours and very interesting

Fantastic technical quality on top of all!

Best regards Dominick, thanks for your visit!

PDE

Shooting this image at f 2.8 would have spared you the loss of definition caused by the diffraction encountered at f 11. However this would have also resulted in a completely different photo with a different mood and feel to it. While evaluating the technical aspects of the lens and taking the limitations into consideration is important, this is only one aspect of creating a good photo. Art always involves some compromise between vision and technique. Balancing the two is the real sweet spot.

What makes your photo, as presented here, work for me is the dof. Given the result you've achieved I would say f. 11 was a good call. With the exception of a few foreground elements and a touch at the top left the frame is sharp front to back. This sharpness accentuates the structure of the bloom and really highlights the complex geometry, which to me is what this image is all about.

The loss of definition in the whites, beyond any diffraction issues, is the result of clipping the highlights. If the highlights are intact in the original raw file they can always be recovered, not that I think that the clipping is any serious detractor.