A change from my recent daily diet of tulips & daffodils. The biggest challenge with this shot was getting the branch to line up with some soft green in the background. Since the branch was slightly above my head (in line with sky & houses), I ended up tieing it down with a combination of a handkerchief, my Plamp and my backpack. Reminder to Ed, stick a length of heavy cord in your backpack.
The next hardest thing was to get the composition that I wanted (equal spacing top, right & bottom) and some space at left center (didn't get much). With the breeze this took a while (& lots of shots).
Compositionally, lots of triangles (implied), oblique lines, contrast between complimentary colors, separation & placement - just what I was trying for.
I made this image with the thought in mind of using it to create an "enhanced" competition print. With this goal, I deliberately tucked part of the upper left corner blossoms "behind" the corner of the frame while simultaneously placing the bottom right petals near but inside the frame. The idea is to create the "out-of-frame" illusion with the upper left being "hidden behind the frame" while the lower right are protruding through the frame. Here's the result - a 3-D "out-of-frame" variation of this image http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/58603889 . Let's hope that the judge "gets it".