Theme image: Buckeye Eyes

[Judy Howle]

This may have been made with the 20D, it's pretty old. I had already created a jpg with the framing a few years ago and printed and sold two 8 x 10s! I took that image and cut out some of the green frame so the butterfly would be larger. Then I selected the butterfly image and promoted to a layer. I used Topaz Simplify on it. Then on a dupe layer I used Moku Hanga at about 50% opacity and thought that looked pretty cool. I then concentrated on toning down the very bright flowers and light areas in the background. I mainly used Nik Color Efex with blur vignette and then a dark vignette, and a color filter with a greenish tone that I then masked off of the buckeye. I also used curves to lighten the darker parts of the buckeye and brought down the whites. Last I enhanced most of the eyes with a Ps brush.

Well I see the bkg still looks pretty light but it's a lot darker than it was originally.

[andrei gheorghe subaseanu]

Very nice picture Judy, i really like it!!Andrei

[Dennis Bishop]

I like the primary diagonal of the forward edges of the wings. With its strong markings and difference in both color and focus, the butterfly stands out well from the background. The orange border competes pretty strongly with it, though -- at least to my eyes. I like the idea of the border, but I wonder about toning it down a little bit.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! The BG and border do compete a little -- but it's all about how you want it to look. Easy enough to tone down one or both and look at different versions. The image is well worth the trouble!

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Dennis and Diane. I'll try to tone it down.

[Nancy Bell]

I like how the saturated colors pop right out! The butterfly is beautifully done. If you are experimenting with the frame, I would try a bit more interior space so the butterfly has more room, and a little less of the green part. If the orange frame is moved a little away from the butterfly, it could stay that same saturated color.

[Judy Howle]

Repost. I reworked the framing and also made a slight tonal adjustment. The color of the frame doesn't look quite the same as in Photoshop...

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Nancy! I didn't start with the unframed image and it's so old it would take a long time to find it, so I can't re-do the crop. I may have cropped it close because of the busy background/foreground. I took your advice and cut out some of the green area and filled the area with a different color, added the dimmed stroke, and added a pattern overlay. Color does look brighter here than in Ps. Is it too much?

I like how the saturated colors pop right out! The butterfly is beautifully done. If you are experimenting with the frame, I would try a bit more interior space so the butterfly has more room, and a little less of the green part. If the orange frame is moved a little away from the butterfly, it could stay that same saturated color.

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice, Judy. Beautiful colors and details in the butterfly. I like how the BG and the butterfly have a pleasing pattern have light and dark areas. I could go either way on the frame, both look pretty good to me.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like it. The butterfly gets my attention, but I still appreciate the rest of the image, and that's a good combination.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Christopher and Dennis. I still like the original but it does compete with the butterfly a little and would work better toned down but I thought I'd change it up and do away with the larger orange insert.

[Nancy Bell]

Great job on the 2nd frame! I really like the pattern overlay.

[Anita Bower]

What a gorgeous butterfly! That was my first impression. Those eyes just pop! The angle of the butterfly is pleasing. You did a great job in making the busy background not interfere with the butterfly. I like the editing you did--very, very nice! Re. the frame--I'm not crazy about the texture of the green in the second version. Maybe just making the original orange border a bit narrower. Great work. Congratulations on selling some prints.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Nancy and Anita. Anita, I think it looks better with the pattern overlay as it didn't look all that good to me before I added it, but of course it's subjective and I appreciate your input as always. I could have lowered the opacity a bit more but I probably won't do it now as I have a lot going on.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Judy, what a great butterfly - one of the most spectacular species. I like the changes you made in the repost. The frame doesn't bother me at all, I think it looks fine. I use that killer combination of dark vignette and blur vignette in NIK Color Efex Pro all the time. It really helps in keeping the eye on the central area of interest. Well done!