Purple False Foxglove (Agalinis purpurea)

Image Critiques Flora Critiques
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Agalinispurpurea
Agalinispurpurea1122×1500 207 KB

Description:

While Jenny was training the dogs with water work, I scanned the pond edges for macro subjects. There were hundreds of tiny, bright lavender flowers along the shore and I found a single spike with two perfect flowers. I waited for the clouds to shade the sun and I fired away. The background is the pond and it provided an interesting background with subtle transition in color. Purple false foxgloves can be tiny as these flowers with a length slightly over a half an inch. The plants parasitize grasses and can be common along the sandy shores of ponds and wet areas.

Specific Feedback Requested:

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

D850 200mm f4 Micro (1/200 sec. at f25, ISO 1600) Topaz DeNoise, Levels, Shadows & Highlights, Brightness & Contrast. Slight crop from the top. I used the rubber stamp tool to remove some orphaned leaves.
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)

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I love the symmetry here, Jim. The super smooth background is hard to do, but so important for this kind of shot. Well done there. I wonder if cloning the bottom three leaves out, preserving just the two below the flowers would be effective in creating more drama? The colors are great…just right, saturated, but not eye-ball frying.

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What @Kris_Smith said – I love the BG as much as the beautiful flowers, and do find the leaves poking in from the bottom a bit distracting.

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This was a wonderful find here, Jim. Your scouting out this scene and then waiting for the cloud cover to support the right exposure was a perfect summation. A truly excellent portraiture of this floral combination… :+1:

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