Lon, Bill, Ronald, Kathy, Keith: Thank you all, and sorry for my delayed reply! Glad you enjoyed the image. I can’t tag more than 10 users in a post, so I hope you see this…
@TJ_Thorne no problem, I know you didn’t feel like 10 miles in a day was enough, so I thought I’d tack a couple more onto your total.
@Brent_Clark thanks Brent! Some more on the setup: the ferns weren’t necessarily symmetrical to the naked eye. That’s mostly what I spent the hour hunched over doing, experimenting with slightly different angles and rotations, because the ferns looked to be unbalanced or in a square-like orientation some ways, and it was only this one rotation that gave the impression of an oval with the symmetry. The flower was also not really centered between the ferns, it was only from a certain angle (not pointing exactly straight down) that it appeared centered. An inch of camera movement changed its position completely relative to the ferns.
@Brent_Clark @Sam_Ison @Martin_Gonzalez thanks guys! Some more on processing: Aside from dodging up the ferns (selecting them via their natural brightness with luminosity masks), I did some darkening of some of the non-clover plants on the floor/carpet, so that the ferns would stand out without distraction. I also did a pretty heavy vignette, which worked easily due to the circular shape of the ferns. The ferns were naturally more warm/yellowish-green due to the subtle light they were catching compared to the shaded floor/carpet, so I used a cooler and more green white balance to homogenize the green color, coupled with lowering the saturation so it wouldn’t go nuclear. There was a lot of cloning of tiny distractions, but I tried to keep the plants intact. To preserve the overall softer feel, I made sure there were no harsh blacks on the low end of the histo.
@Youssef_Ismail I’m glad that came through, that was what I imagined as I shot it - that the flower was protected by the circle of ferns, hence the title. Thanks Youssef!
@Igor_Doncov thanks Igor, that’s what I was going for! The ferns were naturally brighter, and I tried to play up that contrast without going overboard.
@Hank_Pennington thanks for your comment Hank! Not feeling rushed when I’m zoned in on a composition is one of the main reasons I usually like to photograph alone. I also enjoy getting out with my friends, because they usually are happy to go off on their own as well, and we just reconvene afterward - but everyone has to be on the same page as far as the general area/subject matter/time spent. I love William Neil’s work, so that’s a huge compliment!
