Blended: old vs new + Re-post

I was inspired by Kathy Snead’s gorgeous photo, “A Rose” to try combining and color photo with a black and white. And was also reminded about a series of black & white insect photos I did, back in my film days, where I selectively hand painted the images. This is an attempt to combine an old technique with newer technology. The day lily below is 5 stacked images, brought into PS where I created a black & white layer and then painted in selected sections of the flower. Created the blurred edges with a mask, wanting just the focus on the center.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Any and all comments are welcome.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Does this give the feeling of a hand painted image?? Any other thoughts?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

This is a studio photo. Nikon D7200, f/11, 1 sec., iso 100, 100mm
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

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Hi Linda. Love the composition and the subtlety of this image. See how you like it a bit brighter. JT!

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Linda, your efforts here look great. The focus on the central parts of the day lily let them show well. I was thinking that they could stand a little extra contrast to better separate them from the background, but then I saw John’s brighter version and think it works very well. There is a subtle bit of banding in the oof white, which may be an artifact of the jpg compression for NPN display.

Great image Linda. John’s rework takes it to another level.

Thanks so much @John_Teti_Sr_46, @Mark_Seaver and @Igor_Doncov. Yes, I do believe a lighter version gives this image a more subtle look, which i’ve worked on and will re-post. But first wanted to ask Mark about the process of saving files for web posting. What I have been doing in PS is; file, export, then save for web. I used quality high @60 and optimized. Is there a better way to do this??

You’re right Mark re: the contrast. I actually did bump up the contrast in LR as well as increasing the exposure.

Very nice, Linda. Great detail where it needs to be. I do like the brighter version that John worked on.

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@linda_mellor Linda, I use Lightroom’s export to jpeg function, with my long axis set to 1600 and quality to 70. That usually produces a file that is less than 700 KB, although ones with tons of details have run up to 1.2 MB. Both of those are less than the NPN size limit. Do you see banding in the original PS file? When I’m doing my final processing in PS, I sometimes see banding, but that goes away when the file is saved as a PSD file in Lightroom. It’s the PSD file that Lightroom exports as a jpg. Hope that helps.

Whoa, lots of great information and techniques for me to experiment with, thank you Mark. First off, the banding is not incredibly obvious (but it is there) on my laptop probably due to its age. Based on your suggestions I did several different methods for saving/exporting. I had been using PS "save for web (legacy) however, this time I exported using “export as” and used the configuration you suggested, then compared the two zoomed in and I the banding doesn’t seem to be there. I’ve re-posted with a lighter version and, at least I think, a better method for exporting. From your chair, any thoughts? Thanks again.

Linda, your latest version is nicely improved. The stamen and pistil stand out well and even with my super duper magnifying glasses on I can find any banding… :wink:. I could see a bit more contrast/brightness for the stamen and pistil, but at this point, that becomes a question of artistic vision and this need to fit your vision, not mine.

I think I still prefer John’s image to the rework. The lighter toned pistils are important and there is more separation between petals and background.

Thank you @Shirley_Freeman, @John_Teti_Sr_46, @Mark_Seaver and @Igor_Doncov. You have all given me so much information, many suggestions and lots to consider in terms of artistic interpretation and vision. I truly appreciate all of your help.

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