The image quality here is top-drawer but the black is a bit too extreme. Since you mentioned butterflies, if you had one in your archive or spotted one to photograph, lit from the right, you could clip it from that photo and place it in the black here, making it appear as though it were about to land on this milkweed. Just a thought.

-Nik

yeah thats a good idea Nik.
although entering the contest these days with manips. people seem to vear away and think you have cheated and its not real photography. you cant tell me it doesnt happen.

Caedes as it was known back in the days to have many genres. now seems to be only about photography without that type of "trickery"...or so it seems. editing is ok but shopping a pic seems to be outlawed.

the type of pixel moving or alterations i was known to have a habit of? i tend to stay away from. now showing the many things that can be done with decorating of the pixel instead... with software many use...like you said, (i mean no disrespect) its just a thought.

under normal circumstanace i would a agree with you on the black, in fact i wouldnt even have posted it. its suppost to be the so called "Negative Photography" just going with the theme of the current contest, is all :) ...seems maybe i dont understand the topic as well as i thought? it appeared to me to have many different possibilities.

Well look who posted one for the contest, and what a good one it is Sty! It fits negative space very well, and the bold black background just sets off the subject even more. tigs=^..^=

I have to disagree with Nik here. The black only highlights the milkweed and the eye travels right to it. There is more than enough great color , depth and focus for it to hold its own in the darkness. Well done Chris.

I like the glow of the milkweed and the simplicity of the photo. Nice one.

i gave it some thought, then placed a butterfly in comparison to actually size between the two...maybe i already knew this was going to happen in the first place...unless the butterfly is in the distance with blur due to DOF its going to be one the size of the space i have left.... doesnt work well. im beginning to think im not the one confused about negative spece here. huummmm!

i did look at plenty of examples before making this, i could have left the entire milkweed visable...just wasnt the same.

Brilliant entry for the contest - it's a winner in my eyes. Good luck

Stunning, love the contrast and textures. Especially the idea for this photo, very well done!

"little trick in vignette (with highlights) can extract the white points around the edges...or bring them back into visual. just a little trick if you have the software and wanted to know. theres another in PS as well. many dont have or use PS so here's a different way."

I am having a lil' trouble following your words above.. as it sounds like this might be a good good tip towards making a selection of a 'difficult' object.

Care to elaborate, please?

Sure, Les

its pretty basic and can be use on flower pedals as well. just pull the vignette in as close as you can over lapping the edges of the subject with the vignette, default feathering is ok, you might have to use a little more, depending on the colors darkness. with white like hairs of the milkweed i used black in "amounts" to the left, white vignette is to the right(incase anyone was wondering) this "highlight" trick only works with black vignette...hence the word "highlights" once you move the "amount" selection? "highlights" will open for selection, as well. just adjust as much as you need to the desired look you want. on the milkweed i wanted as much as i could get back and leave black underneath, replacing what was there. you might have to play with the "roundness" and the "midpoint" to get the proper selection and effect you desire. its all under "Post Crop Vignette" towards the bottom, when you are in developing on your picture. important: crop first as it states.

Ive done it to a few flowers...and now the milkweed as well. it did not take all of the white like hairs to the very edge in the milkweed...but without seeing the original? you would never know. it was more then satisfactory. which is why i left the little hint in my narrative.

Les is right, its a very hard selection(the one i did) to get clean! even in photoshop with out going through a few more steps. with lightroom i did find it rather easy but...your going to loose the background to a now black one. which if you have PS can make it very beneficial when selecting...keep that in mind, if you have to ask why? its way over your head in PS. sorry, i just tell it like it is. its a very useful technique to get negative space around a subject in Lightroom. Oh Dang it! i just lost the contest by telling my secret! :( all kidding aside, if you have the software, it works rather well and has some more useful ways if you think about it in a creative way with other software.

Les you owe me $1000 cred bucks now :) all in small unmark bills, please!

oh yeah, one more thing to know with this trick.

if you look at the center of the now half milkweed/ you can see some of the brownish orange that was there...vignette as we all know will only go so far in, its not going to go all the way to the center. crop first, then use the trick keeping that in mind.