Asti

Wow! This is stunning. From the shimmer of the petals to the amazing detail in the center of the flower, this is beautiful. Well done Pat!

Very nice!! Love the sheen look, works very well for this flower.

Only nit is that there is some sort of dotted-line on the back petal, which is between the front 12:00 and 1:00 petals. This can be easily fixed.

Great job!

Pat, amazing photo! Superb blossom and bold presentation. Definitely a cover photo to that coffee-table book that I expect to get a signed copy of....sweet.

Unbelievable! Will someone please refer their art agent to Pat's work!
And I ditto Ken's comment.

I like it very much Pat. Your version is of course not natural but very very alive and full of depth. My eyes keep attracted to it's devastating beauty.

Thanks for the comments you all. I appreciate them.

Morris,
If I ever need an agent, I hope you're available. (smile)

Jeremy,
This thing at scanner resolution was filthy. I spent about thirty minutes cropping dirt spots off of it. The line, is actually small indentations in the petals, and several of the petals have them only not quite as pronounced. I considered cloning them out but after the dirt, I decided they were at least part of the flower and left them in. Thank you for the suggestion. When I make my next high res pass cleaning this thing, I'll probably go ahead and clone them out.

pat

Pat, that's just amazing! Chris Grabski

This is absolutely amazing Pat. I'm speechless!

Wow, this is gorgeous Pat. It has a great sheen to it, super saturated (but not too much), and tack sharp.

Goodness sakes Pat! WOW! I love the metallic look that the bloom has taken on here. Wonderful sharpness and awesome color. FABULOUS results.

Nathan

Hi Pat This amazing presentation should push scanner sales up 100% The play of light and color is intoxicating to the senses!!! I cant take my eyes off this masterpiece
Albert Darmo

Beautiful Pat.

Your technique is breath taking, just wonderful Pat! I love the glow and how vibrant the colors are.

Pat, this is FANTASTIC. One of your best, IMO. Absolutely no nits at all.

Absolutely stunning.

Pat: Eye popping detail and color. Not sure it gets any better than this. Superb image. >=))>

Just amazing, Pat...fantastic details at the center and great metal effect

Brigitte

Excellent stuff !
JohnR

Thank you for the comments on this I appreciate them.

Aside from the flower being dirty initially, the only real challenge in the image was getting the flower to scan without blowing the whites. I finally ended up changing the brightness settings and contrast in Vue Scan. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make the scan. The shine (metallic look?) is mostly the petals in the scanner light emphasized by some structural sharpening using NIK's sharpening tool. I didn't add the textural contrast I sometimes do because I thought there was enough textural detail already showing in the image.

pat

wow pat! that is stunning work. thank you.

Pat, this is stunning. Your attention to detail on capture and processing has paid off. I cannot say enough about the high standard of excellence you consistently produce!
On your next cleaning pass, there is a spot on both the 4 and 5 o'clock petals that are not super bright, but could stand to go away. With a flower like this, every imperfection (natural or not) stands out, so for art's sake, I'd get rid of those. Beautiful work!

Thanks Anne,

My wife Terri spotted those too. They're pollen stains and I left them on the first pass because they weren't dirt. I've already cloned them out though now on my archive copy. I appreciate you spotting them.

pat

Sorry for the late entry, Pat - this is truly stunning and ranks in the Top 3 best ones from you. What I like most here is the metallic texture to the flower and how that makes the dark center with the strong oranges there stand out

Outstanding detail, excellent image.
May

Another great image Pat. Light dof,detail all amazing!

Fantastic light, great DOF, and fabulous colors. Superb.