Happy Spring Violet

[Hazel Grant]

Found this today and it just said, "Spring has come!" so I thought I'd share it with you.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Hazel. It's always fun to find those first flowers of spring! Please remember to include your shooting specs so we can give more meaningful comments. :S3: The purple color is pretty intense though I think the image would be stronger if we could see more of the flower's center. The mix of shadow and sun is not helping the overall look of the image - use of a diffusion screen in the field would even out the light and would make a world of difference in this situation. :S3: You might consider cropping the right 1/3 of the image to remove some of the distracting elements and focus more attention on the colorful flower. Keep the spring photos coming!

[Mitch Haimov]

I agree with Steve on this one, Hazel. Another option that may work either in conjunction with or rather than cropping is to try blurring the BG. Simple Gaussian blur or perhaps a radial blur centered on the flower and starting a bit out from its edges. Might want to burn some of the bright areas first, too. Thanks for sharing!

[Hazel Grant]

Thanks. Obviously what I thought I was going for wasn't what happened....a good learning experience. One thot: the intensity of the purple was indeed the actual color. But even Mother Nature can be too intense at times. I'll keep working..

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks. One thot: the intensity of the purple was indeed the actual color. But even Mother Nature can be too intense at times. I'll keep working..

Hi Hazel. When I said that the purple was pretty intense, I didn't mean to imply that it was too intense. I like the intensity of the color. Sorry about the miscommunication. :S3:

[Ken Childs]

Hi Hazel,
Steve seems to have covered things pretty well. There seems to be a fair amount of noise in the BG so you might want to run some NR.

You still should have plenty of time to shoot these again. Mine have been open for a few weeks and they're still going strong. Try digging up a plant and bringing it inside so you can control the light and the BG.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Hazel,
My thoughts covered above.....and don't forget to post the camera specs......we may be able to offer even more possible ways to approach this on your next time out.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks. Obviously what I thought I was going for wasn't what happened....a good learning experience. One thot: the intensity of the purple was indeed the actual color. But even Mother Nature can be too intense at times. I'll keep working..

Hazel: What were you going for? Knowing your goals would help us help you achieve them.

I love spring violets. This lovely little one seems to be holding its head up for some sunshine. It might shine a bit more with some editing. I took the liberty of doing a quick edit on it: rotate the a bit clockwise, crop, various levels adjustments to adjust colors and lighten flower, clone out some distracting areas, darken, curves to lighten the flower, selective color to whiten the center of flower. As I look at it, I might darken some of the leaves a bit more. Hope you don't mind.