I can see what you were trying to here, and I like the meaning you've imbued the photo with, but as an image, it doesn't work for me. The DOF is a little awkward, I think.

Rosalyn Sears: I`m glad you could see what I was aiming at, even if it didn`t quite work out. (:o)

I kinda like it, Roz. Its narrow DoF gives it an interesting point of view. Your words are fitting for this photo. And, yes, it is nice to see a photo that has not been processed!

Rosalyn Sears: Thank you, marybeth. Glad you like it. I am aware that radical post processing is not to everyone`s taste, which is why I only throw in a few every now and then. (:o)

*sigh* (of relief ) I love this very much and you know why.....
The thought behind this picture is very appealing to me, but than it is somtimes hard to focus......but the last 4 years I succeeded.....and I feel happy with it.

Rosalyn Sears: I`m laughing at your `sigh of refief` - lol! I am so pleased you like this one. (:o)

Yes I am not keen on it, but I do it every so often. Processing. Therefor it so much more amazing what effects you can coax out of a camera at times.

Excellent macro

Rosalyn Sears: Glad you like the photoghraph, Louis. (:o)

I do think the whole p.p. argument is a highly individual thing. Some people prefer `pure` photography and strive for photographs which are perfect straight from the camera, some are happy to make a few adjustment afterwards, and some, like me, love to do a bit of outrageous experimentation every now and then. I am never really sure if they are still classed as photographs, when they have been so radically altered - but it is not something that I lose sleep over. I just see it as a different facet of my hobby. (:o)

Great details and DOF !!! Well done ..

Rosalyn Sears: Thank you, Ann - I`m pleased you like it. (:o)

Roz, since I pulled up your image, about 20 minutes elapsed before I wrote the first word. I’ve been mulling over your thoughts on focus. Maybe I should just agree with you and on some levels, I do and I certainly understand your intent. But on a deeper level, I am stuggling because there are a couple of things bothering me about "focus." The first is that life is not crisp and clear. And life is not static. It is hazy, obscured, and ever changing. And for me, intriguingly so. It is those aspects of life that tell me too much focus in one area will lose the richness of the context and will throw everything out of balance by decontextualizing it. Think of life as a forest…too much focus in an effort to relay the details of a skeleton leaf will obscure the beauty of the forest. Too little focus will ignore the beauty and importance to the forest of the leaf’s death. We need both and more to really understand the forest…both the total and its parts and their interactions. It is the combination of zooming in, zooming out, focusing, and defocusing that paints a rich, beautiful, balanced forest/life.

The second is how much utter pleasure and delight I get from being unfocused —wandering, exploring, experiencing new things, stepping off the path. I know too many people who are far too focused and life becomes a chore to endure, rather than a journey to be embraced and experienced. Too much focus can cause one to become shortsighted and closed-minded.

Now to your image, I would not appreciate it as much, if I did not know the beauty of the flower.

Rosalyn Sears: Kathryn, thank you for such an interesting and thoughtful reply. (:o)

I think I could, perhaps, have phrased the text in a better way. I should have prefaced it with `there are times in your life`. I really did not mean that you have to be `perfecty focused all of the time`. It might help if I explain that Mary`s operation has made me think about a time, a few years ago, when I was also facing a serious health issue.

I shall not go into detail more than to say it was cancer based problem. My oncologist could see that I was getting into a blind panic about how the family would cope whilst I was having treatment, how they would cope with running the home, keeping an eye on my Mum, taking care of the animals etc., and I was running round like a headless chicken, trying to cover every eventuality. His advice was that I was in danger of exhausting myself, both physically and emotionally, before the six weeks of treatment (which was going to be tough) even began. He suggested that all of my energies and strength were being focused outwards, at the one time in my life when I should be doing exactly the opposite.

He was quite right. With two weeks to go before my treatment commenced, I allowed my world and my responsibilities to shrink. Convinced myself that the world would still keep turning on its axis, even without my help, and steadily allowed my normal, very positive attitude to resurface and gain the upper hand. It was such sound advice. By the time I started my treatment, I was feeling strong, positive and fully equiped to simply deal with what was important....namely getting through each individual day of treatment and doing everything within my power to make the treatment a success.

Happily, three and a half years on, it does seem to have been a great success. So I guess what I was trying to say was, there are critical times in your life when you have to work out what is really important, and try very hard to focus on that one thing. It can be surprisingly difficult to do. (:o)

I loved your analogy of the forest, Kathryn. I really understand what you are saying, and fully agree. I am also really in tune with what you said about the utter pleasure of being completely unfocused and absorbing `experiences`, rather than focusing on specifics. (:o)

You have certainly focused well on this one - great detail. You may have gathered that I am one of those not enamoured of Photoshop tweaking - so I fully appreciate this one!
Ingrid

Rosalyn Sears: Oh Ingrid - if we all liked exactly the same thing, it would be a very boring place. I am so happy that you like this one. (:o)

What you and the camera worked out at the time of taking looks pretty good to me, Roz. I really like the rich colours in the flower-parts.

Not so sure about the philosophical point...I think the out-of-focus, peripheral, low-key stuff can be where the most happiness is realised in the fullness of time.

Rosalyn Sears: Glad you like the photograph, Ray. (:o)

I`ve just sent a reply to Kathryn explaining that maybe I didn`t explain myself too well in the text. I really did not mean that you have to be focused all of the time. I like nothing better than those moments when I am not focused on anything at all, and simply enjoying `being`. (:o)

One word, "Focus," and see where it takes us. Gotta love the discussion, let alone the image!

Rosalyn Sears: Ah yes, Ginnie. One word can mean different things to different people. I actually did not explain myself very well in the text........but, I agree, the discussion is interesting. I`ve replied to Kathryn with a better explanation of where my thoughts were at the time of posting this photograph. (:o)

Oh Roz, what a perfect macro! Talk about up close and personal!! Beautiful.

Rosalyn Sears: Thank you, martie. I am so pleased you like it. (:o)

Fantastic macro, because I spent an afternoon with some white lily's with beautiful rich orange stagmens and my camera on a tripod. Your right, you have never seen the result here, because they were all deleted. I just couldn't get them to look 1/2 as good as this. Well done Roz.

Rosalyn Sears: Oh, don`t worry Aussie - I deleted plenty of attempts at this one. I wasn`t even totally happy with this result, but I wanted to keep one photograph of these lilies, as they were an unexpected gift from my husband. (:o)

OH my god, how picture perfect, to me this is how photography should be, I use post processing but only because i have not mastered photography yet, unlike yourself. simply awesome.Richard (full of envy).

Rosalyn Sears: High praise indeed for a photograph which was the only one to survive the day! Just take enough of them, and hopefully one of them will be a `keeper`. (:o)

Love this Roz,my focus at the moment is getting through a 12hr shift.Whats photoshop my pics come straight out of the camera.lol.

Rosalyn Sears: (:o) Thanks, mick. Hope the shift is over now and you are enjoying a well deserved rest. (:o)

Very good crisp detail!

Rosalyn Sears: Thank you, Martin - glad you like it. (:o)

This is superb Roz and I love that it comes straight from tour camera. I personally don't use PP.

Rosalyn Sears: I`m glad you like it Richard. I was pleased that, out of the dozens I took, one at least worked quite well. As for photoshop, it is relatively new to me, and I am enjoying exploring the possibilities. I am thrilled to get a good photograph straight from my camera. Equally, and when the mood takes me, I am happy to dive into photoshop with a photograph and see where it takes me. (:o)

Me..I like everything. Twiddled, b&w, duotone etc etc etc. The important thing is that real effort has gone into creating the image. We are not all experts or even talented but there are loads of great pictures on this site which give me great pleasure.

This one? Welllll.... VERY NICE ROZ

Rosalyn Sears: Thanks, Bill.....you are, indeed, a kindred spirit. (:o)

Good work for something straight out of the camera. All too often people spend more time in front of the computer than they do in looking through the viewfinder (although I take your point about looking at life without the camera - I think!).

Rosalyn Sears: lol! I am always thrilled if I can post one straight from the camera, though some days I seem to consign rather more to the `recycle bin`. (:o)

love the shot and you keep on experimenting Rosalyn, life would be dull if we didn't throw caution to the wind now and again

Rosalyn Sears: Glad you like it, tim. I certainly will continue to experiment, both with the camera, as I gradually get to know it better, and with some of the more radical treatments on the computer. Variety being the spice of life....and all that! (:o)

I must admit, having read Kathryn and your comments, I find that I didn't even notice that it was a metaphor for anything. I just liked it as it was, an image of something pretty, that looks good. (I'm a shallow person...not) I tried not to think too much of the implications of cancer when I got my diagnosis, yes there were some tears but only when I tought too much. I'm post op and in the middle of my radiotherapy, and when I look back the doctor might have told me I had a cold. Screw it, you live, you get through whatever comes your way, and thank god for your friends and family. Vive la dolce vita!!

Rosalyn Sears: Well, Dave, I am very pleased that you enjoyed it for what it was - simply a photograph. It must have been my frame of mind when I was posting it, I guess, that made me add a personal thought in the text. It is fascinating to be reminded of how different we all are, in the way we see things and react to them. Much as we will all see a photograph, or a scene, or a photographic opportunity, in a slightly different way, so, I guess, will we all react to a situation in our own unique fashion. I admire you for being able to be so philosophical from the outset. I must admit to having been shaken rigid by the initial diagnosis. Now, three years on, I have to confess that I am even more embarrassed by the fact that I thought my family would fall apart without me - even for the mere six weeks of treatment. How arrogant of me! I do laugh about it now, but when I really thought about it afterwards, it made me realise that I was a bit of a closet control-freak. Thank god, indeed, for friends and family and the realisation that I am part of a perfectly balanced network, and not the crucial lynchpin. (:o)

Hmmm, I like