Front porch Cyclamen +RP

Image Critiques Flora Critiques
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Here’s one as a result of nothin’ better to do so let’s see what I can find around the house. My wife was social distancing with her sister out front and I was seeing what i could see with the potted cyclamen on the front porch. Shooting flowers is fun. :grinning:

This is a two image stack. One image at f/4.8 to make sure the bg and much of the flower was soft, then another image at f/16. I blended in PS painting in the sharper edges while revealing/concealing various parts of the flower. My attempt here was to retain sharp ridges lines of the two main pedals while letting the forms and colors go soft throughout the rest of the image.

Edit/Repost: Thank you so much for the valuable feedback! I’ve painted/modified the UL to bring in more pink and lighter. Also brightened this a big globally as the original sure looked fairly flat and dull.

Re: the sharpness of the pedal edges. As they say, you can’t make something sharper and in focus that isn’t in the original… slight breeze and no good single plane of focus… and the details blend with the soft nature of the pedals… Having excused all that, I tried as best I could to separate the edges I wanted to show adding a second layer of TK’s Lights Triple play (had already done once in original) but wanted to increase brightness without losing detail in the pedal edges. I masked out the effect globally and then painted the effects targeting just the edges. Did the same when using TK’s resizing and saving for the web, only masking the sharpening for the edges.

Thank you so much for the feedback. I think this is much better now. At least I’m happy with it anyway.

Orig

50D0362VFB2SQ_1500
50D0362VFB2SQ_15001500×1500 602 KB

Rework from suggestions:

50D0362VFB2CR3_1500
50D0362VFB2CR3_15001340×1500 553 KB

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Was the technique successful? All comments suggestions welcome

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Not sure if I succeeded. Is it enough to have a pedal edge as a focal point? All comments and critique welcome

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Nikon d800e, Tamron 90mm macro, 1st image f/4.8 1/1250 iso 800, 2nd image f/16 1/125 iso 800
Tripod and a slight breeze on the porch

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Lon: Some really good things about shooting flowers are that they don’t talk back and they don’t run away from you, although they sometimes make things difficult in a breeze. I like how you treated the petal edges and the overall softness otherwise. I might be tempted to put a high key vignette and/or paint in some pink in the ULC. The darker color there does pull my eye a bit. This is a quick and dirty demo of my thinking. Keep 'em coming.>=))>

Lon
Lon1500×1500 841 KB

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I like the idea here very much, Lon - the sharp lines giving focal points against the softness of the more distant and fg petals. It’s also beautifully composed. Maybe I might like to see just a little more in sharper focus, though, as my eye takes time to register the linear aspect. Whatever, it’s a strong image.

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Lon
I agree with Ian. Would like to see those sharper petals just a little more distinctly sharpened but overall, a very nice effect. Good idea to use what is around!

Stay safe
Kathy

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Thank you so much @Bill_Fach, @Ian_Wolfenden and @Kathy_Snead. The feedback is very, very valuable and appreciated. Suggestions have made big improvements - at least for me!

Great call on the UL Bill. That was bothering me a bit. The original was even darker, so I did try lightening, but didn’t think about altering the color.

I made some more detailed comments on what I did in the orig post. I’m much happier with this now.

1 Like
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Lon: If the original was a loud foul then the repost is a home run. Nicely done. >=))>

1 Like
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Definite plus for the rework @Lon_Overacker !