I thought I would dip my toe into this forum for a change. And for my first I'll show you a deadly flower of the datura genus. All parts of the flower are poisonous but what beauty in that flower. It's commonly called the Devil's Trumpet. The flower is about 8 inches long and hangs down when it's fully open.
This is an image from our visit to Longwood Gardens. I had included the entire flower in the image but found that there were too many hot spots along the edges in the background. Considering that I was flat on my back shooting straight up into the flower just inches away, the hot spots were the sunny sky. So I cropped to get just the center of the flower to show the amazing folds and colors. I removed a couple of dirt spots on the flower and balanced the tones using SH.
Canon S90, f8, 1/40s, ISO 200, 6 -23 mm @6, hand held (or more appropriately on my face)
What a dramatic image, Linda! I think you did a wonderful job of finding what works and cutting out what doesn't. The texture of the petals is incredible - some flowers naturally give us a more "painted" look and this is one of them.
There are two things I think might strengthen this...first being the little smidge of magenta at the bottom of the frame's middle area. If this were my image, I'd probably clone it out as it isn't connected to anything within the frame. The other thing I see is the very dark muddy areas near the base of the petals - no doubt from the close upside-down angle. You might try lightening/brightening a bit to get those areas to be more "shadow" and less "muddy" if that makes sense. The thing that comes to mind is to use the clone tool at "lighten" and about 30% with a soft brush and see if that doesn't lighten those areas up a tiny bit.
Thanks for sharing and welcome to the world of macro/floral!
This is a beautiful interpretation of a subject that most people won't see in their lifetimes.
My only suggestion concerns the tiny green triangular area near the upper left corner of the image. You might crop in just enough from the left side to remove that little area.
Hey Linda,
I really like the angle and comp here! I was just a Longwood yesterday....I'd imagine you got more than a few amused looks laying down! I'd just patch....blend in those tiny areas mentioned.....and then print it! The colors/patterns and textures do have that vintage look to them. Great job on this one!
Thanks everyone for your comments. I've cropped a tiny bit from the left and patched to make the area at the bottom look like a cream colored fold. Then I'm going to print it. We have a bunch of photos going up at a local Artworks gallery (just matted prints, no framing) and we may put this one in the bunch along with the rose that Norm posted a bit ago. A bit out of our normal comfort zone, but they turned out quite well. Longwood is a great place to try different techniques. Roman, next time you plan on going to Longwood let us know as we are only about 1 1/2 hours south.
Deadly Beauty
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