AZALEA

[gary ellwein]

The image was captured in the Magnolia Gardens, Charleston, S. C.. My wife and I were participating in Denise Ippolito"s late March Charleston IPT. While working the flowers on the first full day, my back muscles decided to spam. I was unable to participate in the remainder of the IPT ( bummer). We had traveled from Idaho with our trailer. I am on the mend. It is good to be back.

Very little was done to the image other than the addition of a vignette.

[Diane Miller]

Lovely image! I love the small area of sharp focus but I'd think about giving it a little more "sharpness" with a high pass filter layer. I love the quality as it goes OOF.

And sympathies about your back -- I've been there (was for years, with an old injury) and it is debilitating. Have you tried alternating an ice pack and a damp towel heated in a microwave? Better than painkillers.

[Adhika Lie]

I love the tonality in this image and oh my, bokehlicious! I do want a little bit more texture on the petals especially from that "ridge". But this is really a beautiful abstract.

[Dennis Bishop]

Based on what you wrote, I assume part of it was in-camera and the rest the vignette, but the transition in color is very nice. The colors being different but very similar on both sides of the petal adds to the appeal. That diagonal is effective, too. Adhika makes an interesting point about more definition/focus (at least that's my interpretation) on the edge of the petal. It'd be informative to be able to see that, but the rest of the image is so mellow that the way you have it works for me.

I'm curious about the color. There are white azaleas; it looks like there must be some with multi-colored blooms, too.

I hope your back recovers quickly.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Gary, glad to see you back (no pun intended). I'm sorry about your back and missing Denise's workshop bit hopefully you're on the mend. I like the composition and colors. I agree with the others about a little more sharpness on that edge. There seems to be a thin black line around parts of the image that I find distracting. Is that part of the vignette?

[gary ellwein]

Thanks to all for the look and comments. Diane, I applied your suggestion to the second image. The small image only tolerated a small adjustment before becoming over done. The change is subtle, but so is the image. Thanks for reminding me of the high pass filter. I have not used it for sometime.

Dennis, these azaleas had white outer petals with pink central zones.

[Nancy Bell]

I love the feeling of being enveloped by the colors and the simplicity of the single wavy line! I still see a very thin line of ragged grey along the left and bottom edges. Not sure if you intend that to be there.

[gary ellwein]

Cheryl and Nancy thanks for picking up on the focal black line at the edges. They are the product of cutting corners. After applying the white vignette, I tried a number of borders. After flattening the image with a border, I decided against it. Instead of redoing my work, I cropped out the border (obviously unsuccessfully). I dub thee eagles.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Perfect, Gary

[gary ellwein]

I meant to say, I dub thee eagle eye.

[Anita Bower]

Soft, magical and lovely. Excellent selective focus. Beautiful colors. Strong curving line. Wonderful work!!!!

What a disappointment not to be able to complete the workshop!