Beehive ginger approaching full bloodred

[JBW]

Barring the unforeseen this blossom will last between eight and twelve months. Moving from a pale honey colour through red and finally into midnight black as it moves into the berry stage.

ISO 100 ~ Shutter Speed 1s. ~ F/18 ~ Natural Light ~ Sony Alpha a58 ~ Tamron 90mm 272E

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[James G]

That is a very exotic flower (to my eyes).
I love the tones. The velvety greens of the moss and the blue-gray stones behind the flower are catching my eye though.
I would probably blurr /soften more or, given the 'architectural' nature of the flower in this setting, I'd be inclined to take a sequence and stack them.
Probably not to everyone's taste but I use the technique for fungi quite frequently when I think that the background detail can add drama to the capture.

ps I can also get it very wrong sometimes

[JBW]

That is a very exotic flower (to my eyes).
I love the tones. The velvety greens of the moss and the blue-gray stones behind the flower are catching my eye though.
I would probably blurr /soften more or, given the 'architectural' nature of the flower in this setting, I'd be inclined to take a sequence and stack them.
Probably not to everyone's taste but I use the technique for fungi quite frequently when I think that the background detail can add drama to the capture.

ps I can also get it very wrong sometimes

Taking it down a bit more is a thought. I tried to stack but I just couldn't take two shots in a row that would line up let alone 5 or ten.

[Stagecoach]

Not an easy one to capture with that harsh light Brian. The background works for me but not sure about the diagonal stem on the right.

As it doesn't move and is going to be around for a while perhaps early morning/evening low light or a cloudy day is worth a try.

Another thought for this flower is not to include the full heads and use a shallower DoF, making an image primarily accentuating the pattern of the 'petals'?

We also have these in the garden here but they look pretty tatty unfortunately.

[JBW]

Not an easy one to capture with that harsh light Brian. The background works for me but not sure about the diagonal stem on the right.

As it doesn't move and is going to be around for a while perhaps early morning/evening low light or a cloudy day is worth a try.

Another thought for this flower is not to include the full heads and use a shallower DoF, making an image primarily accentuating the pattern of the 'petals'?

We also have these in the garden here but they look pretty tatty unfortunately.

As you say it will be around for a while and I shall try it in gentler light. For me the single right leaning stem works well with the left leaning ones. Then again I use a macro lens for astrophotography I have tried close-up for the petal pattern but I've yet to make it work.

I leave these ginger around the edges in the shadows. They don't seem to like a lot of direct sunlight.

[Wavelength]

Very nice flower.... is it dirt on the stem of the flower?

[JBW]

Very nice flower.... is it dirt on the stem of the flower?

yes it is. We get exceptionally strong downpours this time of the year

[bnnrcn]

What a beautiful subject to shoot That stem on the RHS is a bit distracting though.

[JBW]

What a beautiful subject to shoot That stem on the RHS is a bit distracting though.

It was really distracting before I did some cloning on it. I have found that if I remove living objects my shots rarely work. Bending a leaf or a stem out of the way is okay but cutting is a nono. The stem wouldn't bend.