another orchid version

[chauncey]

Took some care to get it straight on and balanced...do I like it...not sure???

[Stagecoach]

Took some care to get it straight on and balanced...do I like it...not sure???

Ok William, I'll be totally honest and give you my opinion.

It's far too symmetrical and clinical looking, it's a coloured 'pattern' not a beautiful flower

As for the stalk, it looks like a piece of black rubber cable

Orchids, although I have not attempted them that often, from what I experienced were not the easiest flower to photograph unless they were done in a group or selective compositions right in close.

I could of course just said lovely colours

Grahame

[chauncey]

clinical looking

That's the word that I was looking for...clinical. The honesty is appreciated.

[pnodrog]

I prefer this background to the black or very light ones you used previously. This background may work a little better it was a bit darker or had a darkening vignette added. The flower is a bit of a bullseye resulting in a static image in spite of the diagonal stem. Cropping a bit off the top and right may help. Technically well done.

[chauncey]

Maybe, perhaps...a tighter crop is in order, down to 9".

[Shadowman]

I like it, it's almost like it's gazing at the viewer.

[DanK]

Chauncey,

I have to agree with Grahame about the full-flower image.

The crop is interesting. I've done a few of this sort. It's interesting lighting; it looks like you have some backlighting as well as some front light. The green background seems OK in the crop. However, IMHO, for images of this sort, you need a lot more DOF. Assuming you are using a macro lens, I would get as close as possible to minimize damage from cropping, shoot at perhaps f/8-f/11, and then stack. For stacking, I would guess that three or four images would do it, but you can monitor this on the LCD as you move the focus in.

Dan

[Wavelength]

Superb