Contest; Water Lilly

[Roman Kurywczak]

OK, I confess this one wasn't that easy and I felt a lot like Ed did! I took a different approach after seeing Anita's bloodroot. I duplicated the image and made it grayscale. I did contrast and levels adjustments to pop the B&W. I dragged the B&W onto the color layer. Used the eraser at 20% opacity to give it the hand tinted look erasing different areas. I think it's a quadtone....but not sure this qualifies.....since I tried it....figured I'd post to give some ideas.
BTW......I like the full color version much better!

[Anita Bower]

Well, I expected the whole image to be sepia! I like what you did with the color of the flower itself--a lovely, delicate tint, which highlights the water drops. Same with the reflection. I wish the water and lily pads were a warmer color/shade/tone. I, too, prefer the color version.

[denise ippolito]

Roman, I like the color of the flower and the black water really sets it off. I think the water drops add a nice bit of shine.

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice, Roman. I like the color tones on the flower, and the light and droplets really make it shine!

[Connie Mier]

Works for me, I like your PP style here very much. The flower and water drops are tack sharp. Compositionally though, I do wish that left leaf wasn't in contact with the reflection.

[Julie Kenward]

Nice try, Roman! I like the effect you got but I'm not sure it's a real duo/tri/quad tone image because you have multiple colors showing. As you said, I believe this is more of a hand-painted effect and I think it's beautiful but...it's the combination of the tones overlapping each other in the image that (I believe) makes it a "duo/tri/quadtoned" image - not just four tones IN the image. :)

And, yes, I also prefer the original because it was drop dead gorgeous to start with and how are you ever going to do better than drop dead gorgeous? ;)

That said, taking the color away really does show you the bones of your composition - your eye isn't diverted from all that saturated goodness - and you can sure see that this was well planned from the get go.

[Ed Vatza]

Whatever you did and whatever it is, I think you came away with a stunning image. Different than the original, certainly! But a winner in its own right. Nicely done.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Roman, very well done, love the hint of color in the flower. Like the comp and nice sharp details.