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This little flowers grow on a shrub that is a native in PA. I have a couple growing next to the chicken house.
Topaz Detail several times. Selective burn and dodge. Saturate Sponge. 2 CEP filters (I didn't note which). Skew top part of image to enlarge flowers. 5 textures by Coffee Shop, Joel Olives, Distressed Jewell. Cyan photo filter.
I like the leaves and flowers being off-center with respect to the bottle because that makes them a stronger part of the image. Skewing the top of the image to enlarge the flowers was very inventive. I'm glad you mentioned using the Sponge tool. I'd never used it, so I played around to see what it does.
I didn't have an image up in Photoshop, so I used yours to try the Sponge tool. While I was at it, I tried a couple things to draw more attention to the flowers. One was to brighten their white parts. (I tried not to affect the yellows and oranges but don't know how successful that was.) Although the vignette effect of the textures is very effective, there's a lot of red in it. Because red and green are complements, that adds energy, but I think at the expense of the flowers, so I adjusted the hue of the background to make it less red. To make the bottle more noticeable and to give more of a base to the leaves and flowers, I desaturated it some and added a very subtle Watercolor Photo Adjustment layer to it. Although I'd not anticipated it, that added some depth to the image, too.
I do like your image, so I'm not sure why I kept trying things. Here's how they turned out.
Attachment 161744
Dennis: I like the results you achieved. I, too, thought the bg was a bit too red, hence the cyan filter, but I prefer your color. I also like the bottle and how it stands out. Not sure I see much difference in the flowers. Thanks for going to this trouble. I'm going to work on it to see if I can make it look more like your version. :-)
You have achieved a lovely delicacy here! Lowering reds can be done most easily with an adjustment layer or Hue-Saturation, Selective Color or Color Balance. They are different interfaces that do basically the same things, with Color Balance less specifically targeting the color ranges. And adjustment layer adds only a few % to the file size, as opposed to a pixel-containing layer, each of which adds the same amount as the original BG layer.
Thanks, Diane. I made the changes for the image below using Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. I use adjustment layers a lot. I hadn't thought about size.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diane Miller
Looks good, Anita. Did you make the background lighter in Hue/Saturation, too?
You have an excellent eye! Yes, just a tad. What do you think?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis Bishop
It's hard to be sure without a before and after, but -- based on what I see, here -- I think lightening it was a good idea. I was pretty sure you'd lightened it but wondered if it was done in Hue/Saturation because I've read and, to some extent, observed that it doesn't always work real well. In this case, though, I think it did.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anita Bower
Well, I think the third time is the charm. I like all versions but the last one stands out more to me. This reminds me of an old botanical print. I like it:S3:
Thanks, Cheryl!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheryl Slechta
Lovely mood to this with the simple glass vase and the single flower. The multiple layers of subtle backgrounds adds depth. I like the greenish tones of the last image. Also like the detail that the background line is distorted as viewed through the bottle.
Thanks, Nancy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nancy Bell
I also like the mood of the image, and the interesting background created by the multiple textures. Did you have the "look" you wanted to create in mind when you started applying the textures, or was it more a trial and error process?
Thanks for commenting and asking. I'm trying to do a series of photos with flowers in this particular vase. I want to keep the background textures and colors somewhat consistent, but still such that they complement the particular flower. So, I had something in mind, but texture work for me is always trial and error!Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendy Kates
Here are the other images in the series I've done so far:
Daffodil and
Hellebore .
I love the daffodil you posted! I've never photographed flowers in a vase, but once my irises bloom, I am hoping to photograph them in a vase with some red roses...I should start thinking about what textures would complement that combination of colors! I'll look forward to your feedback once I post them.
