This didn't turn out as I had hoped. In fact, not one of the twenty attempts at this shot turned out right - this is just the least bad. The problems in getting a point of focus are many and none of them is new: using a macro lens with a 1:1 lens converter meant that the camera had to be about two feet from the flower. Add to the mix poor lighting (no studio lights and no flash) and naturally poor eyesight, combined with lack of body flexibility and an awkward to reach camera position (me and my poor sciatica), and you end up with this poor result. By the time I realised that I had failed, Linda had indignantly reclaimed her flowers for the dining room (from where I had borrowed them) and I simply couldn't be bothered trying (and probably failing) again. What's more, it looks even worse on-line, because something seems to have happened to the colour - here it is duller than it appears in Photoshop (and it's not a Pbase thing, because the exact same thing has happened on Flickr).