Please gimme your thought on how to maximize this beauty

[Spriter]

This is an unretouched scaled down of a Raw file taken with my XSi and EF-S 60mm.

I tried a lot of option, thought about the third, played with various frames and crops and I did not found one that I like enough to get me going.

I am sure, a lot of you would have interesting tricks that would emphasize such a beauty. I am open to any idea.

I could send the original raw as needed.

[mindforge]

If you can go out and shoot it again and get the whole flower in focus that would be cool... the closer petals are out of focus. I think the shot would have had a lot more pop if the flower was in focus.

Do you have photoshop?

[Spriter]

Yes photoshop and Lightroom. Still looking at photoshop with awe though and not knowing what to do with it.

I am more at ease in Lightroom (V2).

[Marko]

This is already getting there imo and it's a nice shot but it has some distractions. It's really hard to do but when you're blurring the background like that you need to check out for the hotspots (brighter areas that stand out) as those hotspots compete with the flower. You could move your position during the shoot or burn in/cloneout/cropout/fix during post.

If this were my shot, my goal would be to isolate the flower with as few distractions as possible and this is what I'd try
- sharpen the center and mid-level petals of the main flower
- crop the right side a bit and tone down any brightish colours
- this is tougher but...darken the purple flower and stem at the top middle and carefully clone out or burn in those brightish leaves just under and at the left petals of the flower.
- darken just a touch the entire left side.

but that's just me, LOL. I think if you try some of those suggestions you may be pleased with the results. Hope that helps - Marko

[Marko]

woops okay then Spriter - that was a technical answer for someone unfamiliar with photoshop. Either way...the main goal using whatever you have would be to isolate the flower and free it from distractions. :twocents:

[mindforge]

The first thing you want to do with Photoshop is learn how to create your adjustment layers.

I am a podcast junkie. You can learn a lot by subscribing to a grip of podcasts online and listening to them over and over until a new one comes out...

Great new one Marko, by the way. Actions is where I am now. I went through my Nik software phase, my ninja phase, and now I am finally just doing it myself.
You have to know actions if you want to do complex stuff fast. Sure, you can buy the work of others but you have to know the actions intimately or you can't work fast.

So, Spriter, I would go look up adjustment layers for photoshop. You gotta just play with it and forget about coming out with something usable. Make it black and white and then manually paint it like a rainbow... then make a high key b/w with it... Photoshop is deeper than a lot of people look... and right when you think you know something, you sit back in your chair, amazed and say "Whoa, so that's how you do that." Then a new world in Photoshop opens for you... then after you learn it all... they release a new version you get to learn... but that is really the fun part for me.

I skip every other version though. I skipped CS3 but I will get CS4 and now I am just going way off into an empty field, looking for the topic that we started so I will return now.

If you don't know photoshop very well, do this. Create a new hue/saturation adjustment layer. The adjustment layers are one of the small icons on the bottom of your layer window in photoshop. Then, with that new hue/saturation layer, completely drop the saturation out of it to make it b/w.. then make it soft light and watch what happens... play with the opacity.... the curves to drop more darkness into it.. more light...

I get lost in photoshop for hours when I don't have work to do. Photoshop is crack for digital photographers... we love it and hate it at the same time... it makes everything look good, but sucks our time away.

[tegan]

I can show you from your image, if you don't mind me playing with it and demonstrating what I did to you.

Tegan

[Spriter]

I can show you from your image, if you don't mind me playing with it and demonstrating what I did to you.



I would love that Tegan!:D

On my side, i will make some work this week-end and will post the result back here.

[tegan]

Sometimes depth of field and other problems can be hidden by the unique look that still draws visual attention to the image.

Tegan

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/ocophoto/Spriter_ed.jpg

[tegan]

Distorting colour to draw attention to the centre of the flower using the lines on the petals and away from the depth of field problem.

Tegan

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/ocophoto/Spriter_ed2-1.jpg

[tegan]

A different approach again to make the background less distracting and more directing the attention of the viewer.

Tegan
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/ocophoto/Spritered3.jpg

[mindforge]

I took one for a couple a minutes... three or four and did this. Now, I usually try and leave the image untouched for the most part. I like to edit without being able to tell what was done if you looked at the image.

In this I blurred the background and darkened it. I pulled the magenta out of the background flower. Then I increased the saturation and just saturated the flower itself.

Now this is really dirty, I can see where I missed on the stem but this was really quick and I didn't want to spend much time on it because I could have spent an hour tweaking it.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/mindforged/Macro-005-6-edit1.jpg

[Marko]

Your redo is quite good mindforge especially for just a few minutes of work.

I like your versions of this shot as well tegan, though it's totally different than the original.

[mindforge]

Okay. Last one from me.

Use curves on the magenta channel to make the flower blue but maintain the greens. Then use another curves layer to make luminescent blue parts, I made glowing blue lines on the black veins in the flower with this method... then make a curves layer to brighten the center... darken the area outside the flower. Done... Appx time 5 minutes.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/mindforged/Macro005-6-edit2.jpg

[tegan]

Your redo is quite good mindforge especially for just a few minutes of work.

I like your versions of this shot as well tegan, though it's totally different than the original.

The reason that it is totally different from the original, Marko, is that flower shots are just snapshots, not artistic photos unless there is something present in the photo that displays the photographer's unique style and approach or something that is fresh or a little different from other flower shots. October Popular Photography for example was talking about avoiding cliché shots and cliché shots despite technique also need something MORE to have that illusive visual impact and effectiveness.

Tegan

[mindforge]

Your redo is quite good mindforge especially for just a few minutes of work.

I like your versions of this shot as well tegan, though it's totally different than the original.

I think I am better at post processing than taking pictures. Well, at least I have more experience post processing. You know, I think it is just because I have done it so many times... at work, I tone all the images for the newspaper. While I have to remain ethical in this I still try and mess around sometimes.

It is just repetition and wasting company time on playing with pictures.

[tegan]

Of course, it is also easy to combine one colour effect with a different background effect or fine tune one or the other according to individual taste.
The flourescent purple version might work with this background too.
Mindforge's blue goes better with the black as he has it now.

Tegan

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/ocophoto/Spritered4.jpg

[Marko]

The reason that it is totally different from the original, Marko, is that flower shots are just snapshots, not artistic photos unless there is something present in the photo that displays the photographer's unique style and approach or something that is fresh or a little different from other flower shots. October Popular Photography for example was talking about avoiding cliché shots and cliché shots despite technique also need something MORE to have that illusive visual impact and effectiveness.

Tegan

That's not at all the reason they are different in my opinion. IMO, they are different because they are way overprocessed and overmanipulated. They are still nice, I still like them but they are overprocessed and overmanipulated when compared to the original. Mindforge's edits are much truer to the original and still look like photographs, yours look like 'mixed media'. ;)

[tegan]

That's not at all the reason they are different in my opinion. IMO, they are different because they are way overprocessed and overmanipulated. They are still nice, I still like them but they are overprocessed and overmanipulated when compared to the original. Mindforge's edits are much truer to the original and still look like photographs, yours look like 'mixed media'. ;)

Mmmm..interesting point in a Fine Art Photography forum. My mother won first prize in Canada in the National Association of Photographic Art for a similar looking shot to my edit with a rose. That is from whom, I got the idea. It was done totally in colour slide form 42 years ago. Has the conception of photographic art gone backwards since then?

Tegan

[Marko]

Not sure I want to hijack the rest of thread on this...but you've definitely piqued my curiosity tegan.

If one day you'd be willing or able to post that shot in a new thread I'd truly love to see it.

thx
Marko

[Spriter]

You have truely opened up my mind Tegan and Mindforge. I now understand better what Photoshop and advanced techniques could bring to me.

Helped by the various comments, here is what I did with my limited ability.

Yes, there is still an area out of focus in the foreground. and some bright spot in the lower left part. However, I like the way my eyes follow the curves of petals to reach the carpels and stamen.

I have the impression that she (the flower) is offering herself to me.

Thanks a millions for all your comments. Truly appreciated your great input.

Spriter

[mindforge]

much more interesting, one thing on the crop though. You might try and get the whole flower in it. I wouldn't cut the edges of it off... then again, you might have said this looks better after looking at it that way, so maybe I am wrong.