I think this is an interesting subject. I like the shapes, textures and colours. I might tone down the highlights a little, a judge is likely to chunter. I like the sharpness, and the natural background. The little stigma (?) - there's a good project for you next month! See if you can fill the frame with them.
The flower seems to be a bit jammed into the bottom left corner to me, and I would prefer to see all the lower sepal.   Posted: 03/06/2025 16:25:10

This is pretty sharp throughout so without stacking that is quite good! Lovely colors. I might prefer to see the bottom also, as Stuart said and probably a different angle. I don't think this Angkor does it justice   Posted: 03/06/2025 18:59:56

Gloria, I love the colors and textures in this image. I'm wondering if you could bring them out a bit more with a couple of small tweaks to draw your viewer in. If this were my photo, I might play around with the f stop and the highlights. It seems the focus is just above the green? Try bringing your f stop down to f 8 to see if you can get just a slightly stronger focus. The small pods on the right don't seem as in focus as the Green in the lower left corner. I might also bring down the highlights or the exposure just a bit so the center of the image shows those wonderful textures and colors that you've captured towards the top of the flower.   Posted: 03/08/2025 10:37:43

Your flower is done very well-f8 gave you the right depth of field for the flower itself. My suggestion is that the background detracts from your hard work on the flower. In addition to the brighter areas that draw my eyes as a viewer, it has a sharp demarcation where the light and dark meet and, unfortunately it falls right at the line of the flower. Did you consider making your own background and placing it behind the flower? Or would moving a bit to one side or changing the angle of your camera have been a possibility?   Posted: 03/09/2025 21:41:26

Thanks Carol - great suggestion, I realize I never focus enough on the background so thanks for pointing this out.   Posted: 03/14/2025 14:34:02

nice to get the alternate view of a closed flower rather than the drama of an open flower. my eye saw the highlights on top first. other than redoing the exposure I would try to photoshop out those highlights. next my eye went to the background and a stark shadow - would replace that also. filling in with tan that you can copy from the rest of background is an easy first choice .... but then again replacing the whole background might be prettier. like Carol I have been making my own backgrounds even though I have not used them enough yet. but this month is bring it up as a good option for all of us to think about.   Posted: 03/22/2025 18:17:15