This was one of those flowers that I feel in love with immediately, and then proceeded to hate as I began to photograph it.  I loved the fringed petals, but couldn’t seem to find an angle that would do it justice.

After photographing the flower on a white background and a black background over several days I called it quits (and so did the flower, it was looking way past prime).  I focused on experimenting with processing techniques and was pleasantly surprised with the number of different treatments that looked nice.

This image was processed using Basic adjustments in Lightroom.

Taking the basic image one-step further, I processed it in Topaz Labs using Topaz Simplify and the Buzz Sim effect.

Still feeling like there was more room to play, I took the Lightroom version of the image, and processed it again in Topaz Labs Simplify but used BuzzSim with a black and white effect.  Usually I don’t create a monochrome image when there is a strong “color story”, but I felt this version accentuated the shape of the flower and the petals, and I like it best.