Hibiscus in Front Yard

[Mark Fuge]

I’ve been trying all year to get a good image of the Hibiscus in our front yard, but do to Florida’s winter temps this year, the flowers withered and died within hours of blooming and I never had a good flower to shoot. Today, they were out when we got home, so I gave it a try with my 80-200mm f/2.8L lens. The only problem was that the wind (gusts to 20mph) was whipping around the house and swirling right where the flowers are.

Modifications for this image included; Accented Edges, Angled Strokes, Vibrance and Saturation adjustment, then I cut it and pasted it unto a black background and did some final Hue & Saturation adjustments and added a Diffused Glass filter, to shield the focus blur a little. Finally, I added two more Diffused Glass filter layers, the second being inverted. Liked the effect, so …

I haven’t done much flower photography lately and wish I had a macro lens again to shoot them. But I also like the 80-200 and my 300 f/2.8L lenses for “macro” images. I just have to get farther back.

Enjoy!

[denise ippolito]

Mark, Nice job with the extraction. The flower color looks great against the black BG. I'm not crazy about the border but that is just my opinion. Anyway to get a bit more detail in the center, I think that would put this over the top.:)

[Mark Fuge]

Thanks for viewing and comment, Denise. Appreciate it.

Once the wind calms down, I hope to try again. It is still windy out today and they are blowing around. That was the problem with this one. The lens is very sharp, but not for a moving subject. :eek:

Need some warm weather down here, at night, with calm winds and flower photog will be fun again. Not the best year for it though, as noted.

[Dave Leroy]

Nice effect and the black bg really makes the flower pop.

[Mark Fuge]

Here is a rework of the image. I got a trial version of Topaz and did a few adjustments. Different, though the same image of the flower.

Enjoy!

[Kora Baker]

I liked the first image except for the black spots, but this is gorgeous, Mark. Love the touch of light RHS, and the frame isn't as distracting as the first. I'd hang this on my wall:)

[Mark Fuge]

Thanks for viewing and comment, Kora. Appreciate it.

The matte on the first one is the color of the center of the flower. Tried to keep it down played, while adding a little variety to the image. But agree it is not right and a normal white border in this case would not be appropriate. That's why I tried the second framing for this one. It's also my first try at Topaz and that will improve as well with time.

Thanks again. ;)