About the Image(s)

This dahlia was photographed at the Chicago Botanic Gardens conference I attended. It was early morning and I loved how there was still dew on the petals and small pops of sunlight starting to hit them as well. The story in my mind was that this beautiful lady was patiently waiting for the sunshine to fully wake up and warm up from her sleep.

Taken with my OM 1 mark II and 40 - 150 telephoto lens at 106 mm, f 2.8, ISO 500. Edited in Lightroom and Photoshop as follows:

- Opened up the shadows to expose the small purple flowers in the background.
- Removed several distracting spots on the petals and background and a large leaf sticking into the image.
- Cloned more of the purple flowers into the dark space on the right where I removed the big leaf.
- Used a mask on the background to brighten the exposure a bit more.
- Used a mask on the center of the flower to brighten a bit more and add a little more detail.
- Cropped in a little closer to the flower.
- Added a slight vignette.

I tried to balance the background by cloning in the purple flowers on the right, as mentioned. Thoughts on if the background seems too busy. I loved the soft colors in the background, but is it competing with rather than complementing the flower? All comments appreciated as usual!