Simply a Rose

[Judy Howle]

I made this image at the motel in Townsend TN in the never ending drizzle the first day we were there. The background was busy and ugly so I got rid of it. I used many layers and layer masks, painting and cloning getting it to this point. The main filters were Topaz Simplify which I was pretty much content with but I thought maybe Adjust would perk it up a little because it looked a bit flat and whatever setting I'd used last looked like this and made me say "WOW"! I backed it off a little to 85% opacity. It really made the drops pop.

I had to use a wider aperture resulting in shallow DOF because of the low light. I had about that many drops on the camera and lens too!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Judy, this is stunning! I especially love the effect on the leaves and of course, the drops. The black background is perfect for the image.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks much Cheryl! I always wanted to photograph a red rose with raindrops but not IN the rain, LOL.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Judy, this is a beauty. The iridescent colors of the rose leaves just compliment the rose so well. Great details.........I might try sharpening up the left most rose petals, saying that, as presented it works so well.

[Judy Howle]

Judy, this is a beauty. The iridescent colors of the rose leaves just compliment the rose so well. Great details.........I might try sharpening up the left most rose petals, saying that, as presented it works so well.

Thanks Jay. I don't think they can be made to look really sharp. I used Topaz Detail on the image the first time I worked on it after I created the selection copy and before I used Simplify which also helps with sharpening but the DOF was just too shallow. I should have upped the ISO I guess and used a smaller aperture.

[Paul Lagasi]

We agree on one thing, this is a stunning image...very nicely composed, love the water drops and the leaves

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks, Judy, for this beautiful image. I fully agree with the comments made above. My only suggestion for possible improvement would be to remove some of the the specular highlights, which I've tried to do with PS CS6 here in my attachment.

TFS.

Norm

[Bob Miller]

HI Judy...When I first saw this image i said "wow" out loud. Super image! I like it as posted!

[denise ippolito]

Judy, lovely image. I might try to blend the edges at the top a touch more, The drops are great and so is the background.

[Dennis Bishop]

I think Norm makes a good point about the highlights. I'd opt for a blend of his version and the original.

[Anita Bower]

This rose just jumps off the monitor! Good for you for being able to remove the bg so the rose is the star. I think toning down the specular highlights a bit improves the image, though maybe not quite as much as Norm did. Agree about blending the upper edges a bit. Nice work.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks for all your nice comments and suggestions. I'll work on it today!

[Anita Bower]

Congratulations on second place!