Very nice, has an abstract quality to it and the colours are great.

i love the bokeh here; it could be construed as snow flakes, or bubbles, or confettis ..very dreamy mood ;-)

This is a special, magical composition.

Decorative, airy and colours that gel. I enjoyed !

makes the picture here and the colors. Nicely done, Kathy, like it.

Best wishes,

Yes, nice bokeh. Without it the picture would be much less than it is now. Great colours as well.

the majority of the highlights but some are too bright for where they are. I think the full highlights where the plant is in focus detract from the beauty of the plant. The halftone highlights are still attractive but don't distract.

I also feel that there should be a focal recession through the image, so I find the top right corner a bit distracting where the large twig gives the impression of being more in focus than the twig below.

There is a bit of harmony between the highlights and the plant in the middle section of the image which is lost at the top due to the thick twig and lost at the bottom due to the full highlights.

wow! thanks for the kind words and generous ratings folks. The bokeh and the colors . . and the wirey branches got me with this one. none of them alone would be too interesting. It is a body of water in the bg Tony, sun glinting off it. with some magic early spring colors reflecting off it also.

Rex, thank you for the detailed critique. It makes perfect sense and if I could return and re shoot it today I would! I can see how your "sense of good art" would make a difference in the photo. I processed this a while ago, and it has been sitting in the "done" folder since oh . . .maybe last May. I liked the image, but something about it bothered me, it was the focus, but I could not pin point what about that I did not like. You pointed it out, the focus should recede and it does not. I am not as bothered by the highlights as the arrangement of the focus. Still, I appreciate your input.

Kathy, love it, the beautiful bluish tones complementing the color of the buds - and then there is the "bubbles"... Agree also with the focus comments.

When I spotted this photo Kathy, I was intrigued firstly by the composition and then by the colors. They are very pleasing and peaceful. Then I read the comments. I undestand the unsureness of the focus, but for my taste it seems to make the image come alive as opposed to a painting where everything is perfect and static. The only niggle I have is the highlight in the bottom right corner and that could be corrected by a judicious cropping that would not detract from the overall impact of the picture. This would also leave the oof branch in the lower right corner an anchor for the eye of the beholder. Btw, as I am an unlearned redneck farmer from the parairies, what the heck is bokeh? keep on shooting. george

I too love how the bokeh works in this composition. The colors so pleasing. Indeed I am enchanted!

Beautiful bokeh and colors...Well done!

thanks folks for the comments, I am glad this is nice for your eyes.

George, bokeh is the "blurred" or oof background. Some lenses make it smoother and silkier than others, And then of course, the light and the subject of the bokeh play a part in it also.

very pleasing composition Kathy!

for me this is an almost excellent shot. I do miss a lot of DOF to render more twigs sharply in focus. On the other hand a smaller aperture might have been bad on the BG which is so nice in this picture.

Thanks for the info kathy. george

I simply adore this one! It reminds me of a Japanese Kimono. Beautiful, almost unreal! Best wishes!

Such nice comments! thanks folks. A Kimono :) it does have that look João.

A simple image very well done Kathy...

Kathy, just going back through the last 200 images and trying to see what I've missed lately, and this immediately caught my eye. This is just the kind of image I love--twigs and leaves with a beautiful OOF background that complements the subject. From a distance, the bokeh gives the impression of fat snowflakes, just lovely against the steel blue color. I might wish for a slightly more convincing rendering (focus/composition) of the twigs themselves, but the overall effect works well enough for me. I can't stop looking at it, in fact (despite any "problems" with the twigs, it hits all of my buttons at a very visceral level). Really nice.