Can't sleep, hate tossing and turning ~ a little bright beauty?

[JBW]

[flashback]

Brian, I think this one is your best to date, out of all your shots.
Great composition, lighting and color, focus is sharp, I like the way the light quickly fades to black. This is very artistic and I can definitely see this hanging, in a gallery or on someone's wall. My only suggestion(s), and this is just my preference, but I think I would like to see just a bit more light on the top of the right bud, and a bit more space left and top. But I'm not even all that sure about that. Great shot.

[Donald]

I agree with what Jack has written, other than the bit about more space. My thought was towards it being cropped even tighter, particularly at the bottom. But that just serves to illustrate, we all have different ideas. Either way, it's already a good one.

[bnnrcn]

Great shot Brian

[Geoff F]

Yes, I agree. You seem to have managed to get the highlight areas a little brighter this time while keeping the shadows very dark

[Shadowman]

Very dynamic presentation.

[Kris V]

You need more sleepless nights.
This is really a great shot. I agree with Jack about just a tiny bit more light on top of the red bud.

[Rebel]

Excellent shot Brian.

[JBW]

As I said a night with not enough sleep so with apologies I shall be rude and answer all in just one response.

A little more light on the top right would not be a bad idea.

I played with the crop both looser and tighter and as Jack and Donald have pointed out it is a strong shot that could work equally well depending upon personal preferences. I really like the tightness on the top and left but I did play a bit with the bottom being tighter. The deciding factor for me was that with this crop I liked the top left to bottom right diagonal combined with the dissonance of the flower stalks not coming quite as near the bottom as they might be expected to be.

The colours, highlights and the dynamics are due in no small part to by better understanding of Gimp processing. In the vernacular; I am beginning to Grock the Gimp. In particular I am beginning to find ways to use depth merge to enhance and highlight.

As for needing more nights where sleep is hard to come by... Myra (She Who Must Be Obeyed) is currently attending a conference on peace in a city where the mayor boasts about organizing death squads to execute criminals and drug addicts. I think until she gets safely home I can look forward to more late night processing.

[Rita]

Colours, lighting, composition......I love the image.

[JBW]

Colours, lighting, composition......I love the image.

thank-you. you obviously have excellent taste

[IzzieK]

Good one, Brian...you are doing very well on all your shots of late...

[JBW]

Good one, Brian...you are doing very well on all your shots of late...

I am paying more attention to my backgrounds, playing to my cameras strengths and getting deeper into Gimp. I am doing more stacking and often I include a Sepia layer as an overlay. It is a painters technique to give greater depth and subtlety of colour. And of course I am learning more about the filters and how to combine them.

Neat things happen when I combine various edge detections with an oil painting overlay, maybe a cloth or canvas filter and then do three or four depth merges to bring out the beauty.