meditation Calla-#15--Best Viewed LARGER.

Nice work Emmanuel. I like the soft light and delicate details in the flower. I also like the bokeh and the composition with the highlight in the background separating the flower from the background. Well done - michel

Emmanuel, great control on focus & DOF, the nice bg. to makes subject stand out, another tasteful capture!     Best regards

I think Richard 'says it' most eloquently. Your 'Calla' images have been very beautiful and well presented. Warm regards, Gail

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emmanuel,  have visited this image several times trying to figure out what is not quite right, for me anyway.  my wife just looked over my shoulder and said " gosh that's a nice image ".  it most certainly is a nice image, with very interesting b/g,  separation between lilly and said b/g is quite distinct and works well.  really like dark stem,  seems to add more strength to flower than if it were normal green. as you already know i consider this flower the matriarch of the garden, and have spent a considerable amount of time working with them.  would probably say it would be my favorite flower to work with,  and also my favorite flower to view. i seldom to never use a tripod,  working with this flower being the exception.  usually like these ones with strong definition,  except when i go in real close when i prefer softness.  here your sort of in between which seems to work well. lines down flowers body here are soft but not too soft so as they get lost.  base of lilly's colors are so similar they get lost in b/g or blend in at least.  not sure if that's how you planned it or just happened that way. going over this image almost pixel by pixel, now think i know what is not quite right for me anyway.  its the positioning of the flower within the frame,  if flowers can be proud, which i think they can, this would be the queen of proud.  think it would work better if flower were tall and straight within the frame,  just in keeping with majestic nature of this flower. think this critique explains more how i would work with this than anything else.  usually am not too fussed about black backgrounds with again this flower being the exception.  think i try and isolate flower and concentrate energy just on flower and nothing else which is probably why prefer the black b/g.  emmanuel i always enjoy viewing your work,  but the most with this flower .  its the difference between our two approaches to working with this flower that i find so interesting,  would be embarrassed to tell you how long have actually looked at this image,  and all i have came up with is how different our two styles are,  which am sure you would already know anyway.  this is really nit picking but there is a wee spot just beneath lip that if you're going to go further with this image i would probably remove.  our styles are so different with this flower,  and i learn so much from your work, that all i can think to say is thank you.

roger

I like it a lot.  Canon's cheaper normal lenses seem to produce more pleasing blur than their more expensive L lenses.  Who would've thought?  The goals for the L series seem to be limited to what is in sharp focus.  That must be the modern way.  Do you know what focal length and f/stop you used?  best, jamie

i'm just wondering if it might be the bright, diagonal element at at a right angle to the flower's body and parallel to its stem.  that's a distraction for me.  i believe the image might have achieved real grace if that element could have been further down, emphasising the parallel relationship to the stem.  there is also the slight grittiness of the background, but i like that here.  best, jamie

jamie,

was mainly to do with b/g that i wanted you to view this image.  thought you would enjoy the blur element. i also  thought at first it had to do with b/g, being reason image was not quite right to me.  have looked at your take on image,  and see what your saying.  but think only part of b/g that disturbs me would be the bright spot bottom of flower,  and it is so minor as to be inconsequential. still think it has to do with flowers positioning within frame,  and my love affair with these beautiful ladies,  and how i think they should present.  so what am saying ( i think anyway ) would be it's not a  technical problem or anything to do with photography but more me and the respect i have for this particular flower.  jude just popped in,  and offered her two cents worth.  she feels the positioning is to contrived,  being as stem enters frame almost exactly from corner,  she also does not like the bright spot behind flower.  i'm sticking to yesterdays thoughts,  both yours and jude' s  assessments are too complicated, for me at least, while mine is so simple.  SIMPLICITY RULES!  spent so much time on this image yesterday that am really ready to move on today.

fair enough.  i didn't realise he was bothered by something in it until after i made my initial comment.  i was trying to help him figure out what might have gone amiss.  i myself don't mind the angle, but i know roger is exceptionally sensitive to orientation.  best, jamie

Very nicely composed beautiful work, Emmanuel!

Brilliant!! I love it. (7)

Saludos.

very well done. nice composition and dof, very good bokeh too.... i like the white balance in this shot