Rudbeckia (Gloriosa Daisy) Bud

[Anita Bower]

This is a large, somewhat coarse, Rudbeckia that I enjoy watching unfurl. (I wish I remembered it's name.)
Nikon D300, Sigma 105mm macro lens, f8, 1/320, ISO 400, pattern metering, auto wb, manual exposure, manual focus, tripod, overcast day, natural light, I may have used a reflector to put some light on the underside. PP: Elements 7 and PS7; slight rotation and crop; some cloning; added soft light.

[Thomas Herou]

Lovely greens.I do also enjoy the different Rudbeckias, and their intense colours.

[Julie Kenward]

Anita...I, too, love watching plants unfold. I like your choice of comp (although you could also easily do a vertical as well.) I did feel the plant had a bit of a color cast over the yellows and whites so I put the image in Camera Raw and touched the white hairs with the white balance (eyedropper) tool and it added quite a bit of magenta to the image to cut the greens that were apparent in the yellow and white areas of the flower. If you don't have Camera Raw, you could also use the white eyedropper tool in the levels adjustment or add a magenta filter adjustment over the entire image as well.

Other than that, you've got good details throughout the flower and a beautiful, soft BG. It's very nice!

[Anita Bower]

Jules: I appreciate your feedback re. the color. I was unable to see it, even after you pointed it out. The best that my eyes can see is that the original image is a bit too green.

I tried following your instructions without success. When I used the white eyedropper in Levels or Curves, the image became exceedingly bright with the whites blown out. I do have Camera Raw 4.5 in Elements 7, but I cannot bring in an image that has already been converted to a Tiff. I would have to start with the original NEF file. When I did that, I did see the colors change in the direction you wanted, but, I didn't want to re-process the image from the start. I don't know how to do a red filter. Instead, I took the image I posted above, opened up Levels, Red Channel, and moved the center triangle a bit to the left, adding more red. Is that what you had in mind?

Also, does this second version look better?

Many thanks!!!http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Julie Kenward]

Anita, I think that does look better.

To do a photo filter you should have an adjustment layer called "photo filter" and once you click on that you should be able to choose a color and an intensity. However, this worked just as well.

[Anita Bower]

Jules:

Thanks. I don't have photo filter in PS7, but I did find it in Elements 7. Good to know about this tool.

Anita :-)