Another First Impression

[Wendy Kates]

I downloaded a trial version of Topaz Impressions. I applied it to several images and was disappointed in most of them. Perhaps I haven't mastered the program sufficiently to get good images. Anyway, I finally produced what I consider a success: a butterfly on my Monarda plant. (Can anyone help identify the species of butterfly?) The background to the plant is a wooden fence that in the original image was quite unattractive: I think Impressions improved it considerably! I used one of the Cezanne presets, and played around with the sliders until I achieved what I wanted. I don't like the dark area on the right (I think it was a shadow) although when I try to clone it, it looks flat.

I'm still undecided about whether to buy it, but I'm leaning toward it. Comments / suggestions welcome.

[Dennis Bishop]

I really like what you captured, and I think you did a good job with Impression. Instead of cloning out the dark area on the right, what do you think about cropping it away? You have nice negative space the way it is, but cropping might not crowd the butterfly too much. The butterfly (I don't know what kind it is, either) is very pretty. Backing off the magenta, red, and green a bit would probably give more attention to the butterfly without detracting from the flowers. I think the background is super. Its colors go very well with the rest of the image.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I tried it too Wendy, and wasn't very impressed. I think this might be an Tiger Swallowtail, but Swallowtail for sure. I think the program has done a good job here, but I might be inclined to clean up the brown bits around the butterfly.

[Wendy Kates]

Thanks, Dennis and Jackie. I've cropped it, and have toned down the magentas (and the greens slightly). Also cloned out some of the brown bits. I think the image is improved...although I didn't want to tone down the magentas too much because I was concerned it would tone down the background, which I like. Let me know what you think.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like it.

[Anita Bower]

A lovely image. Your repost is my favorite. The processing seems just right. Nice composition with the butterfly to one side and the two flowers on the other. I might darken the light colored flower on the left by cloning some background over it at about 30% opacity. I can't ID the butterfly.

[Nancy Bell]

Good repost. I do like the textured look that you can get with Impressions.

[Diane Miller]

I love the image Just the right amount of "coloring outside the lines" for a painterly effect. The crop feels too tight for me -- I made a selection using a quick mask by painting over the dark area with a soft brush of the right size to give the matching gradient, and made a Curves adjustment layer that incorporated my selection as a mask. Bringing up the middle of the curve lightened things nicely, and a slight tweak of the green-magenta channel removed too much green that resulted. (You could do the same with a Levels.)

[Wendy Kates]

Thanks, all. Diane...I'll try to reproduce what you did. I can't remember how to make a selection using a quick mask, but I recall that you went over it in one of your Layers / Masking tutorials, so I'll refer to that, and let you know if I have questions.

[Diane Miller]

Exiting QM mode with the Q key turns your painted area into a selection, with the softness of the edges preserved, although the marching ants can't show it.

The nomenclature is confusing because there is no such thing as a quick mask, it's just a quick way to make a mask, or, actually, a masked adjustment.

[Dennis Bishop]

Nice solution to the dark edge, Diane.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Wendy, I like your repost. The only thing that I would do now is remove the 3 or 4 brown spots below the butterfly's "tail". Not a big deal but they are a little distracting.

[Wendy Kates]

Thanks, Cheryl...will do!