Linum Grandiflorum Photo

Photographer’s Note

Linum grandiflorum rubrum or scarlet flax is a beautiful, scarlet garden plant which, as far as I know, has no specific use other than looking good.
It is, however, a cousin of the blue Linum usitatissimum which can be used for several purposes including oils (linseed oil) and clothing - the latter made famous already by the old Egyptians.
Linum grandiflorum has tiny flowers of approx. 2 cm accross, and each flower lasts only one day. The plants produce new flowers aplenty, though, and you can see in the photo that reinforcement for this particular flower is already on its way. Supposedly, the flowers only open in sunlight, but this little flower braved a fairly overcast sky and flowered to its (and my) hearts content despite the weather.
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Sorry, Robert, I forgot. In fact, nothing much was done to this photo, just crop, USM, resize and upload. No enhancement of colours or contrast, it was "born" this way ;-)

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Critiques | Translate

chrischris (859) 2003-09-19 17:32

Powerful macro : the DOF, the level of details are simply stuning. What beautiful contrast between this perfectly framed flower and the background... Congratulations!!!

TimWilson (231) 2003-09-19 17:44

Excellent shot, pleasing to the eye and looks almost artificial...welldone

cdewet (0) 2003-09-19 18:01

Bente, this is exquisite, I love the definition in the petals, the crisp pollen, the neutral background, just everything. Well done

RobBrown (1789) 2003-09-19 18:15

well Bente pretty stunning pic the colour just jumps off the screen, if I didnt know a lot better I would say you had been having fun in PS ;0)))#
Sorry great picuture would love to see a field of these, the blues ones can look like water in the right light. Fun over .
It is a superbly sharp and clear picture the bee guides ( the lines running inwards to the centre that bees follow to the nectre)have come up really clear would of positvely glowed under ultraviolet light, beautifully centred.
great detail about the plant, just needs a few about the processing.
definatly your best yet

bullybeef53 (3231) 2003-09-19 19:16

Beautiful-excellent detail!

Alonso69 (0) 2003-09-20 1:05

wauu beautiful thing, congratulations! keep taking photos like this one =)

martin (1242) 2003-09-20 3:05

One of the most remarkable natural flower images I have seen: a perfect capture of a perfect bloom.

sunny (3068) 2003-09-20 3:26

I am happy you didn't give up to show us this beautiful macro, because of the usually not very stimulating rules of TE about flowers' shots! :-) The fine texture of leaves, the gorgeous and so soft /at the same time/ red color radiating from the picture - you have done just an art!

papagolf21 (56737) 2003-09-20 4:09

Un concert de louanges bien mérité. Que dire de plus : C'est beau !

dominique (11403) 2003-09-20 5:11

Very good macro, the color of the flower is surprising, the bottom is perfect like framing.

ornis (1271) 2003-09-20 17:43

This is perfect and beautiful. Couldn't be better in terms of light, color, details and background. I like the framing including a future one too. Congratulations!

Alonso (245) 2003-09-22 22:03

definitively great picture.!! this is so beautiful.. colors are in great conditions, the flower is so perfect..!! excelent work..!!

sirdraco (129) 2003-10-16 15:09

Great color and DOF. It almost looks like you cut and pasted it on this background. good job and thanks for sharing

Kenny10pin (19301) 2003-11-09 5:56

Great picture, and I like it because it is natural, so we know what true nature should look like. Great focusing and pleasant to look at. Thanks for sharing

apivaz (1902) 2004-01-18 17:35

Uma macro expetacular. Linda, perfeita! É das minhas favoritas. Parabéns.

wata4no (0) 2004-04-25 0:27

Wonderful macro! The color is just stunning! This is another photo I would love blown up and hanging on a wall! :) Amazing how the details are so crisp!

azalee (76) 2004-07-23 20:19

Les couleurs de cette photographie sont vraiment remarquables. Tout est merveilleux dans cette image: la profondeur de champ, la netteté de la fleur, les couleurs contrastantes. Félicitation pour cette superbe macro!

AdrianW (2243) 2004-12-03 5:21

Excellent shot! This image really jumps off the screen - mainly I think due to the high colour contrast and particularly the colours involved, and partly due to the USM. The composition is lovely with the flower itself being accented nicely by the bud and leaves in the bottom right hand corner. Nicely captured :-D