Nicely done, Bill. I wish the stuff in the lower left wasn't there, though. It's just distracting.
Jeremy
I could maybe clone it out, though I generally try to avoid doing such things (dust spots aside). Or maybe a square crop?Leave the crop as it is. The negative space gives the flower a presence it wouldn't posses within a tight crop.
Cloning worked a treat, and you were right about cropping, so I've left that alone. Thanks for the comments.Let's see!
Bluebells! Used to be the bane of my life (I exaggerate slightly); impossible to get the colour right on Fuji or Kodachrome. Digital at last made it possible to get the colour right - blueish-purple not just purple. That said, I prefer the look of your bluebells to mine.
Not a traditional flower photoNot traditional, but very effective, Bill!
That's a very neat & effective compositionDitto.
Michael,
your shot has qualities that I think most photographers should strive for. Sure, it's a flower of sorts but the graphic treatment sets it apart from most traditional, and boring, shots of the same subject. It passes my subjective criteria of something I haven't seen before. I enjoyed looking at it and thinking that the camera club judge would say "doesn't much look like a (insert flower name) to me".