Submerged Pad
I shot this pad Saturday at the local Botanical. It was completely submerged with the exception of the very tips on the RHS, so there was a good bit of diffusion from the water. Image was captured with the 100-400@400mm, f/22@1/6. Processed the RAW file in LR and did some touch-up on the pads. Applied Fractalius on one layer, Topaz Detail on another, and Topaz Simplify on a third; then played with the opacity on each layer until I brought the effects in line with what I had in mind.
Wow... John, this is excellent. I love the curved stem. The colors and effect on the pad is super. The dark bg accentuates the composition very well. Personally, I would have preferred to remove the darker stem on the top right. Let's see what others think. Excellent visualization and processing!
Indranil, I had the same thought about the darker stem and have gone back and forth over whether to evict it or keep it...part of me says the crossed stems add to the composition, another part of me says that the simplicity of the comp is better without it...thank you for the comments and suggestions! Looking forward to see what the general consensus is!
I vote for evicting it and tightening it up..................I not a fan of the isolated "x" pattern when I can avoid it. Otherwise, I would tone down the bright edge of the pad. Very cool filtering the colors look great.
OK....back to back votes for evicting the darker stem from photographers I respect says it all!Stem evicted...and I toned down the highlights on the tips...good catch, Jay!
Beautiful! I think Indranil and Jay make some good suggestions. Another vote to evict and I would take a sliver off the top and right if it were mine. Beautiful colors!! Great OOTB thinking!
Thank you Denise..I think our posts may have crossed in cyberspace! I took a sliver from the top and right per your suggestion...thanks for chiming in!
I think you are right our posts crossed. Nice repost and good suggestions by all.
Last edited by denise ippolito; 09-18-2011 at 02:12 PM.
John, I like both reposts with the eviction - either crop works for me. I really like the filtering you did on this and the colors are SO nice.
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John,
I like the second repost best. At first I kind of liked the initial post though I quickly realized the crossing of the stems created an "X" marks the spot and drew my attention away from the beautiful shape and colors of the pad. Nicely done.
Richard
Hi John, beautiful colors in this pad. Love the filtering and the repost in pane #6. If it were mine I think would clean up the bluish coloring around some of the points on the pad edge, but that's just me. Beautiful work!
This is awesome, John! Wonderful vibrant color, patterns and composition. Like how you blended the three layers, and black BG makes it pop. Last repost looks great, nice work!
Thank you all for your comments...can't tell you how much posting to these forums have helped me grow. Jay and I were having a conversation last summer (that he pointed out to me on Saturday!)...where I made some rather brash statements about never cropping, not wanting to change what I saw in the viewfinder other than tonal contrast and color, etc.; thanks for pushing me along the journey.
Gorgeous. I'm drawn to bright colors such as these. :-) The angle of the leaf stem is perfect. Love those scalloped edges. Wonderful pp work. The last version is just right!
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