Columbinian Art

[Dennis Bishop]

The plan was to rush out before breakfast and take some jack in the pulpit shots before it got too breezy. Well, it was breezier than I'd hoped, there were more things to photograph than jack in the pulpits (as evidenced here), and breakfast turned out to be pretty late.

This image was made from two shots to control focus of the columbine flower and the background. I wasn't happy with either one, alone. (The out-of-focus blues in the background were forget me nots.)

Nikon D3s, 105mm macro lens, 1000 ISO, f/11 at 1/60, and f/8 at 1/100

processing

• Adobe Camera RAW -- Clarity and some saturation & luminance tweaking in HSL
• the two saved images were loaded into Photoshop as layers and auto-aligned
• cropped the mismatch along the edges
• three Flypaper Textures textures (one masked from flower and curved part of stem)
• Nik Color Efex Pro -- Darken/Lighten Center (lighten centered over flower)
• two B&W Fractalius presets -- both in Multiply blend mode, one partially masked
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- Stylize Line Art B&W layer in Multiply blend mode, partially masked

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, you did a great job with the multiple image merge and the filters. The columbine is lovely and the colors go well with the background. I think the light flower in the background at the bottom is a little distracting and you might want to darken it a bit. (I like your title too)

[denise ippolito]

Dennis, this Columbine really pops off the page. This angle and processing adds so much depth to this image, nicely done. Cheryl makes a good suggestion regarding the lighter flower/bud/leaf? I most especially like the subtle use of Fractalius here.

[Dave Woeller]

The Columbine does really junp of the page as stated and is quite exquisite. I agree with thoughts above on the lower bud/leaf, but it doesn't really bother me all that much. It's more a case of "what would it look like if" . Lots of work in this presentation, and well worht the wait for breakfast.

[Dennis Bishop]

Thanks for your comments, everyone. I see what you mean about the light whatever at the bottom. You're right about that. (I think it's the top of a new bud like the one on the left.) The funny thing is that I'd been on the fence about the intensity of the blue at the bottom, and it took me a while to figure out that it wasn't. The blue, there, is different from that in the rest of the image because of one of the textures, and I thought long and hard about masking it.

Cheryl, I was hoping someone would notice the title.

[Bob Miller]

Dennis...Everyting is working so well for me in this image.....a nice piece of art.....You might consider darkening the brightness in the lower Right

[Anita Bower]

Excellent and different angle for this Columbine--the two petals coming together are just perfect! Beautiful colors and processing. Your processing emphasizes the beautiful shapes of the petals. Lovely texture work. Like others have said, the bright blob at the bottom is a bit distracting.