Creamsickle Daylily

[Katherine Enns]

Hallooo. This is not the right name for this daylily, but it reminds me of a creamsickle. Its was in a part of the garden that gets back lit from water bounce off the river. I cropped this slightly from as shot, and did not do very much to it. Is it too blown out or can i get away with it? IS it too tight, or should I get more room. I have a few more days of this lily. Should I take out the background more, there was more of the stems and stuff and I took some but not all of it out. ANY comments welcome.

This was taken yesterday morning (before work, blech!) with
Canon Xsi,
f/8
1/160 s
ISO 200
100 m
Hand held no flash
Mosquitoes, assisting

[Katherine Enns]

What I have done is have Bruce step me through reducing the contrast, bringing out detail and removing the distracting background elements in the left lower corner. I know I am not going to remember it but its a start. Not in the exact order I was taught, but here are the steps.

in ACR lowered the contrast and did capture sharpening and noise reduction in details tab
then, in PS used shadow highlights, reverse S-curve ( a la Robert Amoruso)
Also shifted saturation up to compensate for reducing the contrast
Used a quickmask to select a portion of the black background, and used to remove bright green leaves at lower left hand corner.

I had to clone to repair a mistake made in the quick mask step. There is still some background distractions, but I am happy.

Comments welcome. Now must learn not to shoot in bad light....:)

[Gail Spitler]

Hi Kat - Like the second version more than the original for all the reasons you had already identified. It is probably personal choice - I am tempted to remove (or blur) the unopened flower that points toward the upper right corner. For me, it seems to lead the eye away from the subject rather than toward it. You have done a nice job of having the whole flower in focus.
Maybe it isn't just "learning not to shoot in bad light", but also learning to find or create the good light?
Cheers
Gail

[Alfred Forns]

Kat the second is so good it looks like a different image altogether

The s-curve move did real well but remember it kills contrast and looks a bit flat if overdone. It s a great technique. My biggest suggestions in using a diffuser to make the image and the processing would have been just routine !!!!

[Ron Boisvert]

Katherine, You made a huge improvement with your repost! Alfred's comment about the diffuser is exactly what I heard another very talented photographer on this site suggest for this very situation. That message has just been reinforced for me with your posting. Keep on shooting!

[Katherine Enns]

Thank you Gail, Ron and Al!!!

All the credit for improvement should go to my husband who stepped me through the process i have been trying to learn by reading tutorials. I dont have a diffuser, but seeing as how I have this penchant for shooting in blistering light, I should get one. :) Thanks so much. Learning TONNES, here. (Thats Tons + 200 pounds to you Americans.)

Kat

[Christopher Miller]

Big improvement on the repost, Katherine! Good advice on using a diffuser. Getting out real early or shooting when it's a bit cloudy can also help you get softer light.

[William Malacarne]

Kat

You started with a good photo and the re-post makes it even better, I really like the composition and the colors.

Bill

[Katherine Enns]

Thanks William and Chris. Yes, I agree regarding light.

My usual excuse would be that by daybreak, I am often in the bush working, but in fact right now this year I am in the office writing up 10 years of biological tox research that includes....birds.

I love soft light, and I wish they paid me to chase it. :) :) !!

[Richard Waas]

Katherine, I like the repost much better. Al hit it on the head with the diffuser. I'm constantly learning from everyone on BPN and today I learned what TONNES means.... lol

Congrats!!

[Kerry Perkins]

Excellent pre-emptive repost Katherine! I am a big fan of the reverse s-curve when used properly as you did here. Just look at all the nice detail that was lurking in those highlights!! Love the colors and composition. Nicely done!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Katherine,
I like your adjusted repost...I was thinking if you were to clone out all of the green foilage in the background to get a different perspective...:cool: