Day 14 - Iris
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Very natural colors here and like the background being just barely there to add dimension. If you want the purples to be a bit richer, try this: Use the eyedropper and sample the purple, then use the brush tool in color burn at about 10% and paint over the purples without lifting the brush until all of it is done at that level. A soft-edge brush does a nice job btw.

Day 15 - Pelargonium
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
There you go again teaching me new fancy wurds.
Take a look at this shot again in PS and add a bit of a warming filter to it - it has a way of turning the whites into more of a real white with less blue in it. Does wonders for grass / background foliage.

Day 13 - Passion Flower
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Oh my gosh - I never actually seen one, but in all the images I have seen of these, I don't thin I ever saw one as complex as this. Makes one wonder what Mother Nature had in her master plans to make a flower into such a bustle of activity. Love the colors you captured here.

Day 11 - Morning Glory
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
My very first impression was that I was looking at an abstract image of jet engines under full throttle.
Cool!

Day 10 - Clematis aka Leather Flower
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Great time of day to present this well. The shadows work well, and the rich, deep tones say cool forest floor or a cool, damp greenhouse. Nice!

Day 7 - Phalaenopsis Orchid
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Very nice tones here, and I like the way the soft focus was applied and eased in to blend it.

Day 6 - Green Orchid
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Has an Oriental feel to this and well-balanced.
I don't see any green though ;)

Day 5 - Fuschia Buds ala Bear
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Very effective use of isolating an object with limited depth of field.
The greenish fern-like plant coming in from the lower left corner seems like the blur / DoF effect isn't even and the upper part of it could use a bit more blur imo.

Day 4 - Purple Flower
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Very nice tones & DoF in this.
I think the presentation would be a little better if everything outside the purple line was white, and/or perhaps have the line a bit finer?

Day 3 - Columbine
by ephln

Comment by Brad:
Love the tones on this.
The background flower blur doesn't seem natural and if you dropped the levels on it a touch and added a rough film grain to it, it would feel better - well maybe in these old eyes anyway..