Himalayan Blue Poppy

[Anita Bower]

I may be pushing the definition of evanescent here, but these Poppies don't last long. I'm OK if this is kicked out of the theme category. :-)

Taken in the Longwood Gardens Conservatory last week. These unusual poppies appear briefly at Longwood for a few weeks every March.

Taken with a 180mm macro.

Processed in Elements 10: Textures by CoffeeShop "Painting Texture" (light) and Phoebe Photo of Flickr ; CEP: Darken/Lighten Center, Skylight and Polarization filters; Cyan and Colling photo filters, masking out areas; Levels.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like the composition, the bold colors, and the background texture. However, the brushstroke rectangle at the top left of the background is distracting to me. I'd flip the background vertically so that part is at the bottom. Actually, I think it'd be an asset, there, because it would help lead the viewers' eyes from the bud back to the left side of the image. The background is applied over the subject, so this would take some extra work, but I'd also be inclined to somewhat lighten the part that's not over the poppy.

[Anita Bower]

I like the composition, the bold colors, and the background texture. However, the brushstroke rectangle at the top left of the background is distracting to me. I'd flip the background vertically so that part is at the bottom. Actually, I think it'd be an asset, there, because it would help lead the viewers' eyes from the bud back to the left side of the image. The background is applied over the subject, so this would take some extra work, but I'd also be inclined to somewhat lighten the part that's not over the poppy.

Dennis: I do like your version better. How did you make the changes? Many thanks!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Anita, I agree with you - I like Dennis' version better - it improves an already lovely image. (His PS skills never cease to amaze me)

[Dennis Bishop]

Dennis: I do like your version better. How did you make the changes? Many thanks!

It took just a few steps. The first was to mask away everything but the poppy. Using Topaz ReMask, it ends up on a new layer. The poppy was very easy to mask, so that only took a couple minutes. Then, I used the Lasso tool to loosely outline the poppy on the original layer and do a Content Aware fill that left nothing but the background. With that done, I flipped the background vertically.

Lightening the background was easy in this case because copying the image from BPN and putting it in Photoshop gives a white layer over which the image is pasted. All I had to do was lower the opacity of what had been the original. I think it ended up around 70 or 75 percent.

If I left too many holes in the explanation, let me know.

[Anita Bower]

It took just a few steps. The first was to mask away everything but the poppy. Using Topaz ReMask, it ends up on a new layer. The poppy was very easy to mask, so that only took a couple minutes. Then, I used the Lasso tool to loosely outline the poppy on the original layer and do a Content Aware fill that left nothing but the background. With that done, I flipped the background vertically.

Lightening the background was easy in this case because copying the image from BPN and putting it in Photoshop gives a white layer over which the image is pasted. All I had to do was lower the opacity of what had been the original. I think it ended up around 70 or 75 percent.

If I left too many holes in the explanation, let me know.

Thanks for the explanation. Unfortunately, thought I have Remask, I've never mastered it. I may have to go back to the beginning. Again, I do appreciate your explanations.

[Nancy Bell]

Anita, I love the effects of the brush strokes over the poppy! Dennis has a good idea with the bkgd. I have one other thought. If you do get around to masking out the poppy I would consider removing that back leaf and bit of darkness (old bloom?) which would allow the main flower to really be front and center. I really like how those center anthers look like fireworks radiating out of the center. And the colors are luscious.

[Christopher Miller]

Beautiful colors and compositon, Anita. I love the look of the BG with the brush stroke texture. Dennis' repost looks great.

[Paul Lagasi]

A very colorful, composed image. Both versions rock, I like what Dennis did with the background..well done