two views of a blue orchid

evening light, with a little tungsten for fill. 50D, EF-S 60mm macro, no extension. Both focused stacked with Zerene, Dmap.

Wow! That doesn't look real.

Lovely captures- esp like #1.
is the colour natural ?
Brian v.

Thanks, both. Brian--I agree with you that #2 is not as good. The colors are basically natural. These are from the same plant. The flowers at the end of the shoot are like #1. Toward the base, they are zebra-striped in blue, with very dark centers. These were both edited only in LR: WB because of the tungsten lighting, a bit of exposure adjustment, clarity, a bit of a vibrance boost, sharpening, contrast, and a bit of burning and dodging. The center of #2 was so dark that it required quite a bit of dodging.

Incredible shots. They seem to be overdone in Lightroom. Am I correct?

Lovely captures....esp like #1.

Thanks all. No, I did not try to exaggerate things in LR. The first is pretty accurate--a slight boost in vibrance and clarity. The second less so--I had to dodge a lot to make the labellum at the bottom visible (it's really dark). However, the colors are fairly accurate, except that the surfaces are less shiny under natural light.