jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

The normally white bloom after some heavy rain and some maturity yielded this color. Please feel free to play around with it if you wish. This is straight from the camera no PP at all. X-S1 ISO 640, 158.6mm equivalent, 0 EV, f5.6, 1/250. Download provided for your convenience.

Magnolia bloom high in tree

(Download)

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

LOVE that color! It's too bad they don't grow that way year round.

Variant of Magnolia Bloom

(Download)

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

I love what you did with this Bob, and I agree that color is amazing; the bloom had not deteriorated to the point of being rotten looking. It was at just the right stage to show the nice color. Thanks for giving it a go. :thumbup:

CajonPhotog Loc: Shreveport, LA

It is such a wonderful shot, I almost didn't attempt to do anything with it, but in the end I knew I had to tinker, a little, anyway. I used PS CC's Camera Raw Filter to bring the brightness up, and insteasd of bringing the clarity up, I took it down to try and get a soft photo effect. This is the result.

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Thanks for taking a crack at it Cajon; I really like the effect it really brings out the subtle coloration on the flower. Thanks again! :-D :thumbup:

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

JWT, this was potentially a very nice picture. What kills it for me are the low shooting angle and the leaf imposing on the right of the blossom. I kind of want to peek over that leaf in front to see what else is in there. And that leaf on the right impairs my view of that pretty blossom. I would have changed my angle or snipped it off. These are two things that post-processing cannot fix. It also cannot fix how out of focus the picture is.

Post-processing can brighten up the shot (only a little is needed) and crop away some of that extraneous matter to the right. I would darken the background by trying to decrease the green luminance and finish off the picture with a little negative vignette. I prefer the natural look to what is shown here. I like the blossom to pop from the background.

But instead of that and if the blossoms are still around, I would go back out there and reshoot it. I would mount the camera with a long (200 mm) lens on a tripod, stand back, shoot in soft light to avoid shadows, might use a flash with a diffuser or bounce and shoot away. If I use flash, I use manual exposure to darken the background.

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

I appreciate the critique abc1234, however the only part of that I can take to heart is getting the tripod out. The bloom was about 40 feet up in the tree so moving leaves or changing the amount of shade that is natural for a bloom in the canopy is out of the question. I will wait for the next bloom to turn that color and take the tripod out to ensure a more critical focus or less camera shake. Thanks for looking and critiquing. :-D

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Jim, 40' up. You were lucky to get anything. In addition to the tripod, you will need a ladder, stilts or bucket truck. See you next year.

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Thanks again ABC1234, see ya then. :-D

veralisa296 Loc: New Jersey

What a beautiful bloom! I like both variations but my preference is for the second one... with the softer focus.
Great from that distance, JWT

rborud Loc: Minnesota

jwt
Your magnolia bloosom is lovely, and we can assume you did not break your neck getting it. I did a bit of pp to see if I liked it.
I am not sure?
RBorud

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Thank you veralisa, glad you stopped by and commented. Much appreciated. :-D :thumbup:

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

Well I really like what you did rborud, thanks for giving it a go, and no I shot from the ground with some pretty hefty telephoto. Thanks again. :-D

veralisa296 Loc: New Jersey

I just couldn't resist playing with this beautiful flower. Forgive me if I fractured it :?

(Download)

jwt Loc: Texas Hill Country

You certainly did not fracture it. I really love that out of frame pp thing you did and the light on the center of the flower. Well done and thank you for taking a crack at it. Much appreciated.