Nice shot. Maybe if you lowered the viewpoint very slightly the drop would have even more impact. I've been doing the same myself today and will upolad tonight so you can see what I mean (or look at some of my previous uploads?) I have tried several times with more than one drop soon gave up more than one drop a few years back. The difficulty is that with a macro shot like this you want to have impact and therefore focus should be on one drop as you've done here. As a consequence the second drop is usually out of focus and can therefore be a little distraction from the main drop. I always experiment with light too when taking these shots and get some really unusual results. Hope you don't mind the crit?...just trying to help a little

Mike

Hi Ann

nice capture. If I may....slightly soft on the focus but only slight. Maybe had you got a little lower the drop would have had a black backdrop and might have a little more impact. The other benefit of moving your viewpoint is you might end up with a nice bit of refraction with the petals of the flower actually showing in the drop. Hope you don't mind the c&c, it's only there to try to help...not that there's anything wrong with this one
Mike

Nice rich colours and the droplets add another focus point. If I may....
droplets in my opinion are better shot profile instead of head on. If you bring the viewpoint down to the same level as the drop or drops you want to concentrate on. The impact gives a wow factor and if you position the camera correctly you can end up with an effective refraction too. Just a bit of friendly c&c, hope it helps (have a look at some of mine and you'll see what I'm trying to get at)
Mike

You found it then Very nice image I maybe may have reduced the exposure just a tad. Yellows and Red are possibly the most difficult colours to expose correctly but you've still managed a good job. Reducing the shutter speed slightly would have reduced the amount of light getting in to the shot and thus perhaps controlling the exposure on that stamen thingy in the middle. Hope the cc helps a little
Mike

It's known as Grannies Pincushion or Astrantia and comes in many shades of pink/white/purple

As for the shot...you have isolated it well from the background flowers however the focus is not pin sharp (excuse the pun). Did you use a tripod or shutter release cable or did the lens have a VR facility if hand-held?? The square crop suits the subject matter and overall it appears you have the saturation right. It's simply the focus that's not quite right. Hope that helps....you were after a bit of cc

Mike

Though a striking thumbnail, once opended large, I felt a little disappointed and hope you don't mind me asking and offering maybe a little c&c?

Did you use a tripod? The subject looks slightly blurred and I wonder whether you would have benefited from the use of a tripod? ...and maybe the use of mirro lock up or a remote?? Maybe (only maybe) a slightly different angle would have given the viewer a slightly less conventional and therefore more interesting view?
Mike

Well controlled exposure. Maybe a slightly higher viewpoint would have given us a sight of the flow between this fall and the one above where your son stands and added then to the sense of scale/perspective??
Mike

The subtle soft tones suit the image well, quite atmospheric to say the least, love the hint of pink in the sky and reflections. Not sure about the rock in the foreground...I find it a little distracting, perhaps you could have cloned it out. But hey, that's only my humble opinion
Mike

Sharpness....before you've finally closed the image go to "enhance" unsharp mask, then the settings need to be around...168 to 175 (amount) then somewhere between 3 and 5 (radius) and then 1 (threshold). That's assuming you're using PS. See if that works, it's the setting I usually use.
On this shot...you'd benefot from a ngrad filter to help control the exposure of the sky

Mike

A nice subject with some fine detail in the tiny stamen. However the image would benefit from a much tighter crop. The leaves dominate the shot and distract the viewer form the flower. Maybe a tight crop leaving just the last two leaves would be more appealing. Also had you altered your viewpoint to allow us to see more detail of the flower head...whilst not straight on, at a slight angle for us to see a hint of the centre. When using a black background, I often have to use the selection tool to highlight all the background and then increase the saturation and decrease the light. This results in a much more solid background for you. Hope this helps a little?
Mike

I do quite a bit of work with water and long exposures so here are a few ideas and a little critique for this shot. (others may have different opinions or methods)
Because of the nature of the shot (long exposure) a tripod is essential as is a circular polariser. The CP should be rotated in such a way that it reduces any reflections from the light on the water which will result in a nice shot of the stones under the water. A wide angle lens will result in the opportunity for foreground interest. Shooting in bright sunlight can result in over exposure on the rushing water on which the light is shining. A low viewpoint is always an advantage as it allows you to get that foreground interest in that I mentioned.

Looking at your shot, you've got that bright sunlight I mentioned, this can be compensated for in post production a little. It looks like you have shot looking down onto the subject...maybe had you got down even lower (and probably got wet and dirty) you may have had a more pleasing shot. I find it's always quite difficult getting the result "just right" when working with small waterflows like this. Maybe my technbiques are better suited to larger waterfalls.

Hope that helps a little, have a look at some of my shots using long exposures either in my portfolio on EPZ or on my website: www.colouredimages.com, in particular the waterfalls section

Cheers

Mike

I've gotta agree with Alan...the levels and curves could do with altering to boost the contrast. Too many splash mark on the lens also distracts for me. I would also look at cropping or perhaps next time concentrating on composing to shot so that we are looking purely at the lower fall and the view through the hole...that way you would have eliminated the strong light from the top of the current shot. Hope this helps?

Thanks for allowing me to crit....

Mike

Nice detail in the flower but there's a distracting patch on the bottom left of the background. If you use the magic wand to highlight the background (using 20pixels) then alter the saturation and darkness to get a uniform black throughout. Just a bit of friendly CC to try 'n help

Mike

Pin sharp focus and perfectly "framed". This should do extremely well, it's a beauty
Mike

A lovely shot Hugh but if I may offer a bit of friendly cc....the light to the left is subtle and effective. with the use of reflectors and or white or silver card you could have balanced the light more evenly to show off the right element of the flower even better. I find that side a little too dark. I use a combination of natural daylight and reflectors or 150 watt halogen lamps (again with reflectors) or a "daylight" bulb which aims to replicate natural light as opposed to using ordinary bulbs which can give off a false warm light. A slight change of angle of the rose towards the lens would still give us the overall view that you have achieved but it would also give us more of a view of the interior.

Hopefully you will find this helpful, if not, carry on what you're already doing it's still good
Mike

Good use of the "prop" but if I may....it may have produced an even more favourable result had you propped the rose up more and perhaps at a slight angle to the lens so that we could see more detail in the centre. You can also see an element of light in the top right which could be eradicated by either cloning or using the wand tool to select the whole background and increase saturation to make it uniform black throughout. Just trying to help a little
Mike

Good movement in the water Jane however, I find that branch in the foreground a little distracting. I have been many a time and found a more favourable view to be from the bank you have shot from but I got right down near the first stone and got a view across the river (retaining movement with a long exposure) and looking up to a gate. I have also included the loo block which you have done here. I just feel this doesn't really do it justice. Only trying to offer a little constructive critique
Mike

Very nice indeed
Mike

PS: Can I please make a suggestion......without the border, duplicate layer, gaussian blur at 250 pixels then alter the blending style to "overlay" and opacity to 65%, merge down, tweak the levels very slightly and increase saturation too. I've just tried it and the result is a much richer blend of colours. Don't get me wrong, this is already a lovely image. I used this a few times with some recent still life uploads and the results were really quite pleasing. Hope you don't mind, just a little c&c for you to use

Yes it's been done before...I alone must have uploaded 20 similar uploads. This for me is good but maybe you might have been better being lower down so that the foreground rock was more or less at lens level. That would have reduced the effective gap between the rocks and the middle distant reflection of the trees...that just seems a little too much space at the moment. A tweak to levels and curves may also give the shot a little more "punch" to it and this more impact.

Hope the cc helps a bit and don't forget, that's only my opinion
Mike

The bloom itself is lovely, very photogenic. However the background cloth can still be seen...did you use flash? I also find the foliage distracts the eye from the main focus which should be the bloom. Have a look at your e-mail...I've sent you my take on this one and I would be interested to see what you think. Don't forget, this critique is intended to help your photography/processing skills...you already get plenty of "hits and votes"

I have cloned out all the foliage and then selected the background with the magic wand and set at 20 pixels. Once highlighted I have gone into adjustments....then colours then hue/saturation. Alter the lightness to -100, click OK and that saturates the background making it solid. Added a border and hey presto. Now I know not everyone likes my flowers and that fact that they seem to float in mid air...I'm just offering you critique on how you could (in my mind) improve an already good shot still further.

Cheers

Mike