I photographed this water lily on Wednesday at the botanical gardens in St. Louis...harsh light, and the withering heat from the past two weeks had taken a bit of a toll on the blossom already. I used Topaz Adjust to bring out some of the petal details, and then used Simplify to try to give it a bit of a painted quality. The underwater stems distract me a bit, but I'm not sure I could seamlessly remove them from the image without leaving a tell-tale sign, so for now I'm leaving them...though I could be talked out of it!
Here is a quicky.
Do your cloning in a background layer. It's goof up insurance.
Choose a soft brush with the opacity set to 50%, rinse and repeat as necessary.
James
Or...try the content aware brush setting and go right over it...should blend it right in with the rest of the BG. Just make sure you do it on a layer so you can finesse it if need be!
Lovely, vibrant image...the colors really drew me in!
I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions.
James, I took some time and played with the clone tool per your suggestion...largest area of an image I've ever cloned out, and I had never thought about lowering the opacity before - good tip! I usually only use the clone tool for very small blemishes/imperfections...thank you for your help.
Denise, I added some canvas to the edges to give the lily some breathing room and a more serene "space"...I also lightened the image a bit with a slight curve. Again, thank you!
John, Nice job with the eviction and I do like the added space. I had deleted my previous remarks since I was on the fence and didn't want to influence anyone but I do think the little bit of room looks good.
Denise, I'm glad I saw your comment before you edited your post, because I agree. I tend to shoot very tight crops...too tight, sometimes...and I'm slowly learning that leaving a bit of space can aid some images, and I think this is one of them. I think it lets the viewer "relax" and take in the lily...it relieves a tension in the original composition I didn't intend. I have NO idea if that will make any sense to you , but thank you for suggesting it!
The colors are lovely, John. Like the reflection and how you left some room on the left to offset the waterlily. Perhaps a bit more room on the top and less in the bottom would work better for me. James did a super job with the repost as you did as well. Very nice, John!
Last edited by Susan Candelario; 07-31-2011 at 11:35 AM.