Thank you dellac for the comment and for all the thumbs up.
Gassrock
I do not take the same shot 20 times, I change each one to correct or try another angle, change in light or wind, lens or focus. The seed pod was taken for an article for another site and the final shot was on a table top to go on the wall in my kitchen. The colors were carefully chosen to work with the colors in the kitchen and it is a stunner on the wall!
The iris was to accompany several plants that I was giving to friends to show what they should look for as their bamboo iris budded, bloomed and faded. I am not sure of the comment about the lens choice - but the pic illustrated the cycles of the blossoms. This plant is easy to grow but quite rare in the home garden and no one had seen it before. Few nurseries carry the plant because it looks pretty ratty most of the time, and then throws many of these stunning flowers for almost two months. They can get really large and take up a lot of real estate the rest of the time. If anyone would like to see what they look like I would be happy to post some.
The tulip field was edited to give it a painterly look. My background is in fine art - painting, drawing and sculpture and I create many images that are not intended to look 'real'. My graduate degree in photography taught me to use many different techniques creatively.
A photograph can be an image that is so lifelike that you feel that you can touch the bird or smell the flower or it can be the start of a canvas for a unique thought provoking image. Photography is open ended enough to support many interpretations and all are valid.
