Pink Thistle

The flower is too large for verical format. Horizontal format would be better. Center is OOF.

Shirley, this photo to me is a good example of a new way to photograph an old subject. I have photographed these thistles many times but never have thought about shooting one as if it was a sunflower!! IMHO the format you have chosen is fine, very dramatic. Thanks for sharing.

Excellent detail in the center Shirley. I also like the color palette particularly the green and pink. There's a lot going on in this image. You have a high dynamic range, two repeating shapes (circles/elipses, spikes), three main colors (pink, green, blue) and sharp focus on a very small percentage of the image space. My immediate inclination is to crop but I think it's because the crop puts emphasis on the subject. It makes the pink the dominant color, it de-emphasizes the dynamic range, it increases the focus on the in focus center and it better emphasizes the symmetry of the circular flower. It still allows you to put the flower in our faces (I like that) but it makes it easier for the viewer to understand the subject of the image - the pink thistle.

However, you may want to show these elements just as you have. And that's fine too. It depends on what you want to say. This is an unconventional presentation. That's not good or bad in it's own right but only as it reflects what you want to convey to the viewer.

Interesting image.

pat

I got a great shot considering the breeze was blowing and I couldn't grab the stalk of this thing to hold it still. I went with vertical because I wanted some of the sky and stalk in the shot. 11x14 enlargements are cut in such a way that some length is taken off both ends of the picture, so I like to make sure that my subject has plenty of margin space.
I'd like to do a reflection shot of this plant, but I'd have to take shears and wear gloves to get it.

For a plant that is so despised thistles have some of the prettiest flowers of any plant. I think I agree with the idea of cropping some off the top and bottom. I think especially off the top to take the flower out of the center. Usually you have to shot right down on top of a thistle to get this view. I like the pov on the flower.

Hmmmm, I really like the flower subject Shirley, but to my untrained eye, the just OOF green to the lower right, competes for mt attention. I kinda like the vertical.
Bob

Shirley: I probably shoot 75%+ of my shots vertically so this works for me. My initial reaction was I thought it looks a bit soft. I think the relatively small size of the image makes it hard to judge. I do like the colors and your BG. >=))>