Jimsonweed

Arguably the best photograph that I have ever seen of Datura stramonium, aka 'Locoweed,' aka 'Jimsonweed.' Superb composition, processing, and the light on the bloom is just sublime. Methinks that this flower would not stand up well to being photographed in any form of direct sunlight, regardless of how soft. The bug on the upper right edge of the flower is just pure serendipity. Well done, Amigo! Cheers!

This is really lovely. The mild underexposure of the mid-tones gives a perfect contrast with the flower petals, and really brings out the twilight atmosphere in the shot.

Thank you Chris and John for your kind words.

My buddy Chris Harris and I just returned from 9 days of photographing

New Mexico and Arizona. I was taken right away with these weeds which

grew everywhere. It was used by Native American in rituals because of

its hallucinogenic properties. Many others have tried it for the high

and have had dire consequences as the dosage in hard to control. It is

a member of the nightshade family which is known for its toxic

effects. It has also be used in medicines for asthma, diarrhea, and

bed wetting. I found it to be quite beautiful and couldn't wait to

photograph it.

Excellent

Can you tell me the F stop, shutter speed & lens that you took this absolutely gorgeous photo with. Also, did you use a tripod? I,m just starting flower close ups. I have a Nikon D60 with the fixed 60mm lens & am having a hard time getting tack sharp pictures. Thanks for any info. I,m new to this web site & don,t know if it is proper to ask these questions here!

Yes I did use a tripod and the exposure was 1/8 second at f16. It was very early in the morning with a low light level but the soft light of that time of day. I shoot almost exclusively from a tripod as I like to lock up the mirror and eliminate all possible sources of motion. I want as sharp as image as possible and the tripod gives that to me. I don't worry about having too much depth of field as I blur any part of the image I like with a Gaussian Blur and masks. In addition to sharpening for final size, I also gave a little extra sharpening the stigma to draw more attention to them. I am attaching the original raw file so that you can see what I started with. I hope this helps, Stephanie.

Thanks for all the info. Just a few more questions...What lens did you use? Also what is a Gaussian Blur? Is that how you got that beautiful blur or softness on some of the edges? Im going to look at more of your work...It really inspires me! I was a commercial photographer over 20 tears ago (with film)...& am trying to relearn on my first digital camera. I love Photoshop, but miss film. Thanks again Stephanie

I have just looked at your portfolio & am so impressed with all your work. I can,t remember ever seeing such beautiful images. I,m so taken with this particular photograph...it truly is a work of art. I realized you had the lens info listed & I research the "blur" in Photoshop. Is the masking you mentioned something in Photoshop? Anyway, keep up the GREAT work, & I'll keep looking at this pic for inspiration!