My first attempt at "serious" editing. This shot is of one of my wife's orchids in bloom. Flower and leaves shot against piece of blue poster board. Light is natural and diffused through dining room window sheers.
Cloned out a large leaf to the right and behind the flower which I thought unbalanced the photo. You may notice some softness around the rightmost petal of the orchid because of this. I also cloned out tiny brown spots on the bloom as well as any shiny parts on the leaves that the polarizing filter didn't remove.
I realize that the leaves in the back are slightly fuzzy, but my camera only goes up to f11 and I had to use some of the zoom feature to get the composition I wanted.
I know it's just a flower and I'm probably going to be torn apart for it, but I'm still proud of my first attempt at cloning.
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This photo really shows off the beauty of this orchid. The subtle variegations of the petals and sepals and intricate shape of the lip are nicely captured. The lighting is perhaps a bit harsh, but not too bad. The blue background works great. Focus is great and sharpness is about right (sharp enough to show some texture but not so sharp to detract from the delicate nature of the subject). The composition works well; it seems balanced to me. I don't know what it looked like with the leaf behind the right petal, but it looks fine without it. Your cloning didn't soften the petal so much as leave a light blue halo around it. It isn't really distracting at web resolution, but would probably be obvious in a print. I like the fuzzy leaves; I think having them in focus would distract from the flower.
It may be just a flower, but I like flowers! And I think this one is well done.
Gorgeous shot - very clear and crisp. The subject (although plentiful on this site) is still very unusual looking and is well lit with strong colour. Composition may have been better as portrait, filling the frame.
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