Water Lily

Second crop is the best of the lot - great work

Thank you for the input and complements all.

Tighter crop is so much better, nice job.

Hi Jim,

It's all about identifying and framing the subject. The subject in this case is the flower since white has the most significant draw to the eye. Plus we get the reflection for additional support. For subjects at a distance use a telephoto as seen in your last two images. Here is another way to crop the original. Sometimes you have to take several shots from different heights and perspectives in order to get certain elements (lily pads) to provide the best context for the subject.

The second image posted is from your first crop. Don't be afraid to get tight on a subject and generate a little drama. Here I cropped tight and dropped the mids to get improve the dynamic range of the piece. If you add a little vignetting the eye is kept in the frame and this in effect produces a little more visual drama. All very simply PP effects. It is like salt and pepper in that each artist has their own criteria for shaping an image.

Thanks for letting us work with your images.
Cheers,
Joe