Ok, let's post some pictures. Do the out of focus elements here bother you? is the central blossom strong enough to carry this composition? Does the Survivor tv series make you ill?

-- Mike Green (greenplay@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000

Answers

It looks either a little too dark or it has a slight green hue to it.

-- Pete Bowman (bowrod@sympatico.ca), August 27, 2000.

(1). Not really; although I'd like to see the buds above the flower in the same field of focus as the ones below, it doesn't kill the photo.

(2). Yes and no. It could perhaps be a bit larger to compete better with the empty space.

(3). Never bothered to watch Survivor, so I wouldn't know. I am sick of the media coverage, though.

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), August 28, 2000.

p.s. It doesn't look too dark on my monitor. PC users: adjusing all your colors up to 100% helps a great deal with gamma correction issues. I agree about the green hue to the background; I suspect it's from out-of-focus vegetation (a/k/a grass).

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), August 28, 2000.

I like it. I think having the various stages of the plant blooming in various degrees of sharpness adds a dynamic to the image. Excellent!

-- Alan McCord (lightandglass@hotmail.com), August 28, 2000.

Out of focus elements don't bother me at all, and the central blossom is strong enough. I think it is a wonderful composition. Do you have recorded what f stop you used?
Couldn't say on the Survivor questions. I don't have TV. I see small referenced to the show in the daily paper but don't have a firm idea of what they are discussing.

John Thurston
Blissfully out of the media circus in Juneau, Alaska

-- John Thurston (john_thurston@my-deja.com), August 28, 2000.

That's really excellent. It looks like a galaxy or molecular structure of floating buds. The out of focus buds make the in-focus ones seem like they are shooting out and grabbing at you. There is kind of a greenish/bluish hue to the yellow but I think the darker yellows add the right subtlety to the image. A pure, more saturated yellow would be too strong.

The technically perfect shots that are straight out of a nursery catalog or encyclopedia leave me cold. I really prefer these images that are different and original.

So, what are the technical details (lens, exposure, etc.) behind the picture?

Seattle, Washington

-- Bob K (bobk@webforia.com), August 28, 2000.

I didn't record the specific tech data but the film was ektachrome 100sw and the camera was probably nikon f3 with 55mm micro. Since there is still some detail in the far background, I would guess f4 or 5.6.

-- Mike Green (greenplay@hotmail.com), August 29, 2000.

You know, the more I look at this, the more I like it as is. I am always a sucker for flower macros with beads of water on petals.

p.s. Is that film grain I see texturing the background? If so, I'm surprised E100SW has grain that large...I'd expect it with E100VS but not SW.

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), August 29, 2000.