The windup...

[AlwaysOnAuto]

...or should that be the un-wind?

Comments always welcomed.

[deetheturk]

Very nice Alan!

[Geoff F]

Nice approach to an unusual subject. Focus is fine but there are a couple of small areas of over exposure. Very difficult to prevent this without going too far the other way and having dark shadows. The only other option is to merge two or three exposures.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks David and Geoff.
Since this was a hand held there's no chance of merging, besides not knowing how to do that anyways.
This image is pretty far from the original which really had a lot of over exposure area.
The more I worked on this one the better it got, so maybe I need to start spending more time in PP than I have been. I must admit, I'm a SOOC kind of shooter.

[Geoff F]

One thing which I do in situations like this is to avoid direct sunshine. Either pick a lightly overcast day or add a little bit of shadow; ideally from a difflector or failing that position my body to block out direct sunshine. But we are possibly getting towards using a tripod now, and maybe increasing ISO a little.

It will prevent over exposure though. But you do have to watch the White Balance settings as the light becomes less bright.

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[Rebel]

Nice Alan!

[FootLoose]

Nice crisp focus, Alan. I know you can't do much about choosing the background but I think the diagonal lines complement the swirling lines of the petals quite well.

[bnnrcn]

Beautiful

[jcuknz]

With a good editor hand holding is no obstacle to either focus stacking or panoramas, though my experience is more with the later I see little problem for focus stacking ... so I suggest "Go for it!"

[Dave A]

I like the image. Beautiful subtle colors.

Dave

[IzzieK]

This is clockwise, so it looks good...very nice...