Dead Flower

[colorado]

It seemed ironic that a withering flower could be so lively in color.

photoshop: I edge burned, burned, and sharpened w/ the unsharp mask tool.

[ChowChi-Ching]

Love the colors.......very pretty! What flower is that?

[colorado]

You know, I can't say what kind of flower it is? It was an arrangment of flowers someone gave us, and it's just been sitting in a vase on our coffee table until it got to this point.

[McMadCow]

Colorado, I love your colors and tones, but this shot isn't quite sharp enough for me. At least, the sharpness doesn't match the vividness of the other elements.
In terms of your composition, I would have liked to see the flower slightly more out-of-frame... maybe coming into frame from the upper righthand corner. And maybe slightly larger to eliminate some of the negative space at the bottom that doesn't really do much for the shot. I'm so terrible at critiquing still lives since I rarely shoot them myself, but I think you've got a lovely effort here.
Thanks for posting!

[gahspidy]

I agree with the comments about it not being quite sharp enough. the colors are very nice, and the subject matter is definitely worthwhile. The composition is not working well here I feel. MadCows suggestions are good about the flower coming in from the top right corner and zoomed tighter to fill up more space at the bottom. the bg elements in this picture are fighting for my attention from the main subject. Moving the subject further away from or reducing the light on the bg leafs would help to reduce their presence.
This is a subject with much potential.

[colorado]

Thanks for the advice! I'll try and increase the sharpness in PS, and see how it looks. I probably won’t be able to improve that problem much though. I don’t know? I think you're right, the flower would look better coming in from the right corner. The stem looks a little odd coming down from the center. As for the bg, I burned it considerably, and I think I'm happy w/ it. My eye goes to the flower first, and then wanders around to the background. I'll still try darkening it, and see how it looks. I have some other shots w/ less background, and almost all flower, but I liked this one the best. I feel the negative space is important since its dead. Thanks again.