Morning Glory

[Susan Griffith]

This is an unopened Morning Glory flower. Was out on a walk and this just looked interesting.


Canon 5D2
EF 100 f2.8L
ISO 2000
1/400
f5.6
No flash
minor cloning out of the most egregious dirt specs.

[Anita Bower]

I like the angle you chose. It allows one to see the many curves I often don't notice. Your shallow dof works to enhance the focus on the curving lines of the petals. I like how the flower emerges from the green bg.

The image seems dark I took it into photoshop 7 and made some adjustments: set the white point in Levels, used Levels to lighten (except for the flower), used Curves to lighten, cropped, ran Denoise, minor cloning to even out bg. I cloned out the yellow bug. I used Despeckle to remove some of the dirt, but I suggest cloning out the rest. If this was shot in RAW, some of the lightening up could be done before bringing it into photoshop.

Thanks for sharing.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Susan,
I'm fond of dark and moody scenes ......so just slightly brighter would have been OK with me.....but feel that there was just too much negative space all around. I do like Anita's take on the crop and even the overall lightening if you want to go in that direction.....but will give you another option to explore next time out in the field. I think if you are going for a comp w/ so much space......it really becomes more effective in the ROT position or towards either corner a bit......just something to keep in mind for next time out. Iso 2000.....meant it was quite dark and while I think you handled it well....a bit of reflector into the bloom would also have worked. Just more food for thought when in the field.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I can't really add much to what has been said and done, i think the repost is good and if you go back to the RAW file you have some good suggestions. I like the isolation of the bloom and the selective focus so it will be worthwhile to find more similar scenes to experiment with.

[Susan Griffith]

Thanks for all the advice, I am still trying to learn how to use photoshop (cs5) and all of its tools... not overly intuitive :P I have only scratched the surface

Anita, you mentioned you used despeckle and denoise, are these in the photoshop package? Thanks for the repost.. it is a good direction to move in with future editing.

Typically all of my images are shot in raw and the first edit is in photoshop camera raw. One thing I have troubles with is the direction to take an image (creatively) once it is in photoshop. I think part of this is because i have no idea what all the capabilities are with the adobe products...

Roman, thanks :D i had a reflector with me.. unfortunately there was not much light to work with.. the photo was taken during middle to late dusk it. I am looking for similar scenes while out walking around to experiment with.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, I will be working with them to see if I can improve the image more for a subsequent repost.

-Susan

[Julie Kenward]

Susan, I agree with the other comments made. I think a slight lightening would also work but really like Anita's post.

As for Photoshop...let me recommend the best book on the market IMO - "The Missing Manual" for [Insert Photoshop Version you own here]. They are incredibly easy to read, easy to understand and simple to apply. Another great option is to check into Scott Kelby's Online Training site. I've taken several lessons there and they helped tremendously. I still don't know it all but I know way more than I knew 2 years ago - thanks to that site and that outstanding book. Both were well worth the money.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks for all the advice, I am still trying to learn how to use photoshop (cs5) and all of its tools... not overly intuitive :P I have only scratched the surface
Anita, you mentioned you used despeckle and denoise, are these in the photoshop package? Thanks for the repost.. it is a good direction to move in with future editing.
-Susan
Susan: I've been using photoshop for many years and have lots to learn. We all approach learning differently, but my suggestion is to learn it gradually. Learn one tool at a time and don't worry about all the others until you feel ready to learn how to use another tool. You will never learn all of it, and there is no need to do so. Julie had some good suggestions for learning resources. Another one that I sometimes use is Mark Johnson. You might try his Photoshop 101 video tutorials at [http://www.msjphotography.com/index.php/2008/09/video-tutorial-photoshop-101-introduction/[/url].

For despeckle, in photoshop, go to Filter, in which you will find Noise, in which you will find Despeckle. Hope that makes sense.