Magnolia

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Taken with a Minolta XD11 and 70-210 zoom, on Velvia rated ISO 40. Thanks for your comments.

-- Jill Castiglia (markus777@earthlink.net), November 15, 1999

Answers

Sorry, here it is.

-- Jill Castiglia (markus777@earthlink.net), November 15, 1999.

I like the contrasting flower and background, and a square cropping seems to crowd the flower a little too much. The only thing I don't really like is the fact that everything is soft...there's no place where it's in really sharp focus. I'd like to see that, especially at the points of one or two of the petals.

Good job. Also, I've never seen a pink magnolia blossom before (I live in NC). Could that be due to something in the soil? Where was this picture taken?

Jeremy

-- Jeremy Kindy (kindjd01@wfu.edu), November 16, 1999.


The magnolia shot was taken at Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island (NY). The arboretum has a large variety of unusual specimens, but this happens to be one that is common in this area. Unfortunately, the focus is not what I would have liked either, but I took an extreme closeup with a cheap lens. I couldn't bear to throw it away though because it was my first "WOW" shot.

-- Jill Castiglia (markus777@earthlink.net), November 16, 1999.

It is a bit soft. Perhaps a tripod would have helped? I'd like to see just a bit more room around the flower too, but it is a beautiful image. Excellent lighting. Keep at it.

-- Darron Spohn (sspohn@concentric.net), November 17, 1999.

Very Pleasing shot ... little more bright colors would have helped.

-- Santanu Nag (santanu_nag@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.


On one hand, I agree it would have been nice to have the flower "sharp." On the other hand, I find the overall softness of the image very appealing. It is most certainly a "keeper," no matter what!

Are you a resident of Long Island? I live in Patchogue and have found Connetquot River State Park a fantastic place for photography.

-- Jim Erhardt (jimerhardt@hotmail.com), November 18, 1999.


A soft and a beautiful image. A sharper image will ruin the mood. Thanks for sharing.

-- Bahman Farzad (exposeit-right@spotmetering.com), November 18, 1999.

>I've never seen a pink magnolia blossom before (I live in NC).

Many white flowers change color with age. For a while I thought I was seeing all these different species of trillium, but they were all the same, just different bloom stages. I suspect if you look again at a bud or recently opened magnolia flower, you'll see the pink, even in NC (I'm in CA, but we have 'em here too).

-- John Wall (jwall@earthjustice.org), November 18, 1999.


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