Every chance I get! ... ... ... Oh, you meant pixels; well, then, not so often.

Wow! You really massaged that original!

I was thinking of something a trifle different from what you got. Here, I rather sloppily selected the shadowed areas, and then used a curves layer to hold the darker stripes constant and brighten the brighter stripes, so the stripping in the shadows popped more - maybe too much more. It may have been worth the effort, or it may not; since its your image, you'll have to decide.

(Download)

Great eye, Linda. I love it. Of course, I always want to pick some nits. I agree that the green should go, or altered somewhat, since it just doesn't look real. Then there are some yellow spots I'd prefer spotted out, along with the white one on the lower left margin. Finally, I'd like to try more contrast in the shadows, so the red stripes stand out just a little bit more. And I would to emphasize that I am convinced it would be work the effort.

A trifle dimmer on my monitor than I'd prefer, but, overall, simply specTACular!

I tried a method similar to Linda's in Photoshop: Select>Select All, Select>Modify>Contract>500, Select>Inverse, Select>Modify>Feather>400, Curve>bring highlight down to 255:140. Try it; you might like it ... or not.

Its a lovely shot, Robert! I've tried to take similar shots, and I've run into some issues that are displayed in this image, although in much, much smaller doses than in mine.

Looking very closely, there are colors that seem out of place to me. One the bee's eye there's a constellation of colored dots that I imagine don't represent what was actually there. There are similar colors on the "knee" of the right front leg, at the base of the right wing, and in a streak along the upper abdomen. I have no idea why they're there, and I'd appreciate any edification anyone could provide me.

To be very clear, I mean no critique of Robert's excellent shot. I'm just seeking a little education for me.

Lovely!

Much grass!

Perhaps you could honor us with the link?

First, RG, thanks for your contributions to this discussion.

Now, when you contemplate an image that compellingly tells the story of impermanence and imperfection, and you allow yourself to be drawn into that story by that image, don't you have a shot at least of seeing interconnectedness in the image, and/or feeling connected to the subject(s) of that image, and thus living the interconnectedness of things? I offer this image as a possibility:

(Download)

Well, thank you very much.

No offense, Jack; rather, appreciation. As I noted, I have found the discussion useful.

This thread is proving inspirational for me. My wife has a little garden - about 10 acres, with 99% ornamentals. About 20 years ago, I began photographing her botanicals in decline, when I discovered some tulips that had withered in a vase, but still struck me as interesting. About seven yeas ago, I took a non-credit course in photographic portfolio, and ended up focusing on those decline botanicals. Pressed to present a document describing my work, I stumbled across the concept of wabi-sabi, with which I had had to that point very little familiarity.

Something else I've been taught is that the best photographs tell a story, an idea I always likened to the deli meat I liked best as a small child. There's no story in a portrait head shot, or a portrait of a flower, or an abstract icicle, I believed. Now we're talking about the beauty in impermanence, imperfection, and interconnection, and I think I'm learning something about story telling photographs.

Wabi-sabi is a set of ideas, and I think wabi-sabi photographs tell the story of those ideas. The image of an older woman who has hit the lottery tells the story of striking it rich, not the story of impermanence, imperfection, and interconnection. The image of an obviously older person playing in a band can tell a story of musicians, or it might tell the story of impermanence, imperfection, and interconnection, and sometimes it might tell both stories. An image of a decaying building can tell the story of impermanence, imperfection, and interconnection, or it can tell the story of a moody scene, and sometimes it can tell both stories. So, I think the best wabi-sabi photographs do the best job of telling the wabi-sabi story, that everything is impermanent, imperfect, and interconnected to everything else.

Anyway, that's my latest take on it; tomorrow's another day.

Perhaps my album will illustrate: https://www.flickr.com/photos/samyaffespix/albums/72157713297046548/

Some may question the "beauty" in some - or perhaps all - of these images, but they are my attempts to use the concept of wabi-sabi as I understand it.