an entirely different perspective on an orchid

[DanK]

I often try taking flowers from an unusual perspective. This is the second time I have tried an orchid from directly above. 100mm macro, no extension, f/7.1, ISO 100, 1.6 seconds, 20 shots stacked with Zerene PMax (the depth between edges would have been problematic for DMap). C&C welcome, as always.

Dan

[Shadowman]

Nice, how is it you guys keep making these orchids look villainous? This one looks like SAW.

[chauncey]

Technically a great shot Dan, but...lets talk about beauty. Might you be better served by getting rid
of the gritty look in the petals...more like the silky smooth look in the labellum.

[ClaudioG]

Awesome Dan...really like that mask look..did you try with a white BG and high pass look?

[IzzieK]

Nice view from there, Dan...looks like an alien...

[FootLoose]

You've really given it some character with this perspective, Dan. I'm not sure if it has arms or legs, but it seems to be dancing.

[rudi]

Your shot from above looks good. I took several stacks with my cymbidium lately, the one from above did not look good to my eyes, but this one has it, very nice.
What about a shot without the lower left petal, so you get a more symmetrical look...

[DanK]

Thanks, folks. You have given me a lot to think about.

William, re the gritty look: maybe somewhat, but not entirely. The images started out with a very limited dynamic range if you exclude the black, and the white areas were nearly featureless:



So, most of my editing was designed to open up the dynamic range and add detail (hence the unusually large clarity adjustment):



The effects were what I wanted in the core of the image, but maybe too much on the petals.

Rudi, re the symmetry: I go back and forth about this issue in general. The flowers often are asymmetric to some degree, and I am always torn about how much to alter that. In this case, it might be better to do as you suggest.

Thanks again. I'll post below an edit that removes the lower left petal and adds gaussian blur to the remaining petals on the side. See what you think.

Happy holidays to all.

Dan

[bnnrcn]

IMO edit is much better For me it really looks like a mask rather than an orchid though .

[rudi]

FWIW, I also think your edit looks better...

[DanK]

Thanks. I'm convinced.