Past Its Prime

[Dave Woeller]

I recently mentioned that this title could easily refer to me also (recently celebrated another birthday). At any rate it's a fairly simple composition. A subject captured on a walk through Cape May Point State Park. The texture is "Brushstrokes" from Shadowhouse. After combining the two I used Nik color efex darken/lighten center to get the vignette effect. I also used structure in detail extractor, but only painted it onto the flower sections using the nik brush feature. I used the Lightroom brush feature to warm the highlighted portion of the flower. Maybe I could have used a smaller center on the darken lighten center? Thoughts?

[Jay Sheinfield]

Dave, real nice warm light. The texture compliments the detail of the flower. Nicely framed, and I really like the arched features of the flower. Well presented, simple and clean. Great work.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like what you've done with this. The background and subject work really well together. I like the primary diagonal, and the curves are marvelous in focusing attention on the rest of the seed head. My take on the size of the Darken/Lighten Center shape is that I wouldn't want it any smaller. It looks good the way it is -- a nice vignette and a well-grounded base. I wondered about slightly blurring the background and quickly tried it. The seed head stands out a bit more, but I'm not sure that's better in this case.

[Steve Adkins]

I can empathize with title on this one.
I really like how you presented this subject, Dave. The size of the Center shape works to help bring it forward from the BG texture.

[Dave Woeller]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm getting a bit more comfortable with the center size. I appreciate the time and effort to comment.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dave, I like it just the way it is. The texture you used is very complimentary and I think the lighten/darken center is just right. I, too, can empathize with the title

[Judy Howle]

I also like it as presented. I love the background and it goes perfectly with the subject.

[denise ippolito]

I too like it as presented. Nice texture (one of my faves) and the lighting offers a nice mood.

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful work! I like the dark, interesting texture, and the light on the center of the flower. I think the lightened center is just right. Excellent work. I love Queen Anne's Lace past its prime. Most people are great past their prime also. :-)

[Anita Bower]

Dave, do you have a link to this texture?

[Dave Woeller]

Thank you once again to everyone. I now must apologize for a mix-up in crediting the texture. When Anita asked for a link, I went looking in my files and noticed that this particular texture came from Deviant art. I found a link to the download site so I'll post it here. http://firesign24-7.deviantart.com/a...ture-123965652 I hope the link works for you. Further proof that I'm past my prime.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you for the link, Dave. It worked fine! Wonderful texture.