Maxxum 7xi, Sigma 28-70mm/f3.5-4.5 (70mm/4.5), Sensia II 100, manual focus, auto exposure (bright sunlight).

-- Rob DiStefano (rfd@cybernex.net), October 25, 1998

Answers

There is a great feel of light and color about this image. I would have cropped very tight so that all one could see would be the two flowers including the bud. As is, IMO there is too much space around it. Good luck.

-- Bahman Farzad (cpgbooks@mindspring.com), October 25, 1998.

My botanical knowledge is slight, but I should point out that PSA rules exclude cultivated flowers from nature competitions, just as they exclude domesticated animals (dogs, cats. cows etc.).

Is this a cultivated flower?

It's not a bad shot, but may not be appropriate here.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), October 25, 1998.

I was a truly pleasant surprise to find this particular dahlia plant growing in our backyard, about 30 yards from my wife's *real* flower garden. Though her garden does contain dahlias (of other colors/combinations), we did not plant this one (an "unplanned birth"? ;-), nor know exactly how it got there (we can only speculate). It was left to fend for its own, with no "feeding" or pruning (other than to harvest flowers as they matured). I don't know if this could be considered a true "wild nature" image since in the long run it is considered a cultivated flower. Most likely not. But it was interesting that you picked up on this point, Bob. Though it was secondary to the image itself, I was interested to see if someone would comment about the "legality" of using this particular flower.

The photo composition was an easy one for me: three stages of flower development. I cropped it large in order to frame the flowers to my taste; I feel the edge space necessary to the composition as opposed to a closer crop. It took only a few moments to compose and capture a half dozen images, of which I liked this one best.

-- Rob DiStefano (rfd@cybernex.net), October 25, 1998.

I believe portrait shots of beautiful subjects are wonderful and that someone we try too hard to be artsy. You have done an excellent job on this.

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), October 25, 1998.