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Thread: Yellow Lady's-slipper

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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Default Yellow Lady's-slipper

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    This is a small (as opposed to large) Yellow Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium calceolus variety parviflorum) I photographed on an overcast, drizzly day last week. 40D, Canon 180 f/3.5 macro, 1/13, f/11, ISO 400, natural light, tripod, mirror lock, cable release. Comments are welcome.

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    Hi Steve, First, it's enjoyable to find another orchid enthusiast. I really enjoy your image. The saturated but soft green tones combined with the rain drops create a wonderful atmosphere for this great little woodland Cyp. The blossom is nice and sharp. I found the dark areas a bit distracting so I opened them up a bit, added a bit of canvas at the left, shaved a sliver off the top and moved your sig down. Hope you like my changes. - John

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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Lowin View Post
    Hi Steve, First, it's enjoyable to find another orchid enthusiast. I really enjoy your image. The saturated but soft green tones combined with the rain drops create a wonderful atmosphere for this great little woodland Cyp. The blossom is nice and sharp. I found the dark areas a bit distracting so I opened them up a bit, added a bit of canvas at the left, shaved a sliver off the top and moved your sig down. Hope you like my changes. - John
    Hi John. Thanks for your comments and the repost. I especially like what you did with the dark areas. :)

  4. #4
    Mike Moats
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    Hey Steve, nice job with the sharpness though out the flower while maintaining a clean BG, John's clean up of the dark areas works well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Maxson View Post
    Hi John. Thanks for your comments and the repost. I especially like what you did with the dark areas. :)
    Glad you like it. - John

  6. #6
    Ed Vatza
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    Excellent job. Getting to f/11 and still maintaining the diffuse background is a real plus. I like the toning down of the dark areas since the darkness tended to pull my eye toward those leaves in the LR corner. I still wish they weren't there but now they are less distracting!

  7. #7
    Julie Kenward
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    Stephen, your original was nice but John's repost really tightened the composition. Stephen, do you know how to lighten the dark areas of a photograph? John, would you be willing to share how you did it for others to understand?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Julie Kenward View Post
    Stephen, your original was nice but John's repost really tightened the composition. Stephen, do you know how to lighten the dark areas of a photograph? John, would you be willing to share how you did it for others to understand?
    Gladly, I used several steps of Vivisa, isolating and working on an area at a time. Vivisa is a PS plug that allows you to point (select) an area and color and then with an eyedropper (part of the program) replace the first color with the new one selected. I probably did it in five or six steps. You don't want to do too large an area at a time. Then I cloned some additional BG along the left side and shaved a bit off the top. Because of that crop I had to move the signature with the use of the clone stamp tool. Hope that helps. - John

  9. #9
    Gordon Craig
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    The soft green background against the sharp slipper works really well in this picture. I like the use of 1/3's.

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    Lifetime Member Thomas Herou's Avatar
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    Well done!
    I think they're hard to make look good in pictures,but you've done it beautifully.
    Thomas Herou

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