Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by Bobby Tee:
great nature shot -there should be a separate category just for these

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by hblake:
I don't care for the composition. Maybe the flower should have been in the lower third of the picture.

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by rll07:
nice simple shot great color and lighting

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by Swashbuckler:
I think this is called a Centari Monterra (or something close to that). Very difficult subject, pulled off very well. I've tried to get good photos of this type flower on several occations, but it's a lot harder than it looks! Very nice! 9 Swash

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by Natasha:
The background is great, but I think a little more DOF is needed to get the flower sharper

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by LobsterClaws:
That looks too purple to me.

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by mjcecil:
Good macro! A tad underexposed , but I suspect that's the contrast enhancement. 8

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment by austinscott:
I'M NOT BIG ON FLOWERS

Storm Destroys Powerlines, Trees.
by BigSmiles

Comment by muckpond:
CRITIQUE CLUB!

Overall, this is an excellent photo for the Photojournalism challenge. The viewer can completely understand what's going on in the scene, and the lineman turned upside-down is a completely unexpected, and I think delicious, twist to the typical post-tornado photograph. It's almost like he got twisted around in the wind himself. :)

Colors are fairly accurate, and the orange jumpsuit makes the lineman jump out even more than usual -- a great contrast that again turns the focal point toward the lineman and not the power lines.

The framing of the shot it probably the biggest detraction, unfortunately. Understandably, this was a "go for the moment" -type challenge, but the dumpsters in the background are very distracting. You also mention that there was yellow tape all around -- some of that in the photo, even if blurry, might have lended a more "newspaper"-y feel to the image.

Focus on the power lines and lineman is decent. It looks like the top of the broken pole is the most in focus, unfortunately. The building in the background is blurry enough that it shows some depth of field, but not blurred enough to make it pop the focal points out from the background.

I greatly enjoyed this photo -- it captured a rather unique moment in time and was perfect for this challenge.

Rob 8)

Storm Destroys Powerlines, Trees.
by BigSmiles

Comment by BigSmiles:
Naw I wish I could have gotten a little bit closer. Unfortunately for me there was yellow tape everywhere as there were several trees that had fallen over on top of cars and houses. While i agree another angle may have eliminated some of the background distractions, it just wasn't possible at the time. I have a few other shots I was considering.. I'll post them later today.