At first glance this shot might appear to be one to throw away, but after looking at it a few times, I find myself really liking the soft nuances of this photo of the fairly common Swamp Verbena (Verbena hastata).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tokina AT-X M35 Pro DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1, 1/330 sec at f/3.5. ISO 200. No post production. Moraine State Park, Portersville, PA.

What Works: The soft focus (probably not intentional, but helped along by the macro lens, the small subject, and probably wind) helps to produce a pleasing affect here, causing the viewer to scan the photo repeatedly searching for recognizable features. The wide aperture helps to make the other stems just dark shadows in the background. The overall exposure and colors continue the soft, almost dream-like quality of this shot.

What Doesn't Work: The center placement of the main flower stem might have been better suited to one side. Also, if the background stems could have shown some of the purple color to illustrate that they have flowers as well might have helped to make a nice pattern in the soft focus.

Obviously, an intentionally out of focus photo is not the easiest thing to pull off successfully, and honestly this one is probably a fluke. But it definitely warrants looking at a photo a few times before throwing it away if you can catch a lucky break like this on what might have been considered a mistake.

- Bill