Stamen

[gparr]

Does this work? Should the stamen be higher in the frame? Or did I completely miss the boat on this one?
Gary

http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/stamen.jpg

[FredG]

My eyes keep drifting up to the blue spot in the center, wondering what it is. OTOH, if I crop off the upper 1/4, I can hold my focus on the lower position of the stamen. So my totally unprofessional thought is that it's too low for that format, but ok for another format.

[nhfirefighter13]

I agree with Fred. The dark area near the center is too distracting. Clone it out or crop the photo differently.

I'd try cloning it out as you have some nice leading lines from the upper left corner.

If you crop, put the Stamen in the center or closer to the top.

[nhfirefighter13]

Try this:

[jliechty]

With Chris's modification, the photo works better IMHO. There's clearly potential there with a bit of post processing. Other than that, I might burn in the light spot in the upper right corner slightly, but with the odd color cloned out, the photo looks pretty good to me. :)

[rjgleason]

Try this:

Nice job Chris.

[gparr]

Thanks Fred and Chris. Much better without the blue area. I gather that nobody is having a problem with the composition?
gary

[Kevin Sadler]

something just doesn't feel right with the position to me. and with that dof the stamen is sooo focused and it's stem is so not focused it's a little too disconnected. maybe if there was something more recognizable in the top half (more dof) like petals it would feel more balanced. i dunno.

[NikNikon]

Crazy, I really liked it. The DOF & its quite abstract, guess the oddity of it is appealing, I guess I enjoy stuff out of the norm.

[nhfirefighter13]

I gather that nobody is having a problem with the composition?
gary


Not with the blue gone, I'm not. I like it. :) Nice work!

[gparr]

Thanks to all. I think I'll keep it, without the blue area. It's exactly what I wanted when I shot it, the stamen in focus and just enough of the stalk in focus to make clear what's supporting the stamen. Kevin has me thinking, however, about going back and implementing his suggestion. If the #^%&*!@ wind would just quit blowing.
Gary

[hnordberg]

Just wanted to pipe in...
I really like the original. Nice colors. You certainly didn't miss any boats with that one.

[sparky63]

I think there are two ways to look at this photo. If you're seeing a somewhat abstract image with interesting colors and shapes (i.e. the sweep or "swoosh" of the stem holding the stamen), the composition is perfect.
However, as a macro photograph of the innards of a flower, I'm not sure it works. If you hadn't told us what it is, and if I didn't know that you're working to perfect this type of shot, I'm not sure I'd recognize the subject. As Kevin pointed out, with a bit more DOF to put things into context, maybe ...

Great thread, BTW ... I love these "philosophical" conversations :)

[cox]

Great thread, BTW ... I love these "philosophical" conversations :)
I don't think I can keep up with you philosophizers :) I like the original a lot, but Kevin does make a point about the DoF. You were doing some super 3-D looking macros recently, and I think the effect was driven by your deft manipulation of the DoF. If you can get another try at this shot, it would be interesting to see.