Spring Candy

Gallery: FloraPosted April 30, 20141,119 views7 comments

It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything outside the forums. Now that it's spring I'm getting started again.

This is a tiny Candy Flower native to the wet forests of western Washington and the Seattle area. The bloom is less than half an inch and grows about 6 inches off the ground. Some may find the bud above the main bloom a bit distracting so I may play with defocus to see how I like it.

Shot with a Nikon D7000 using a 150 macro, f11, ISO 100 and exposure at 1/13th of a second.

Comments and critiques most welcome

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on April 30, 2014 at 4:55 PM

Interesting flower that I've never seen, clean background and nice composition. The bud being a little out of focus doesn't bother me. A square format would be another option I might try.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on April 30, 2014 at 6:37 PM

Steve, this sure looks like what we call "Spring Beauty" (Claytonia virginica, see Caroline's post) here in the east and it's the right size as well. Most of ours are pure white but a small fraction have the nice magenta veins like you're showing here. I like the bud as it adds context. You've positioned the bloom well and the background is nicely soft yet very complementary colorwise.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on April 30, 2014 at 7:23 PM

I'll pass on critiquing the image, as Patricia and Mark have pretty well covered it. If you are using Topaz' focus correction, I've tried it. If the image is mildly out of focus it seems to work well enough. I suspect this is more than it can handle.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on May 1, 2014 at 1:39 AM

Hi Steve

What more can i say, when we have excellent comments that covered all the details. i find this image very enjoyable giving an effervascent mood

Albert Darmo
Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lowe on May 2, 2014 at 1:21 PM

I like everything about this.

Registered on February 11, 2004, 777 Posts, 5252 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on May 4, 2014 at 10:59 PM

The flower itself is really sweet, Steve. I see these all the time, but I really need to get down on my belly and photograph them! I do find the bud above distracting-I think mainly because it looks as if it protrudes into the foreground, though I think that's an optical illusion, since the stem's not in focus. I might be tempted to eliminate it altogether.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on May 5, 2014 at 6:16 PM

Nice job in getting such a tiny flower. I like the color patterns and the bud above does not bother me, in fact it is interesting to see how the flower opened up. Well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments