Ally Green
March 2023 - Mariposa Lily
Original
About the Image(s)
We get lots of these lovely lilies in Colorado and I took this one while out for a hike last summer with my Macro lens (hand held). Whilst there is not enough detail in the petals I decided to make this more of an abstract image. 1/125 F3.5 ISO100. In post I sharpened in DeNoise and then moved the contrast & clarity sliders IN LR to the left to add the dreamy effect. Put a slight vignette and enhanced the purple luminance slider.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
11 comments posted
Pretty. I keep bouncing between original and processed versions and like them both. Just trying to thin abstractly I might even more strongly alter the white petals and add more blur or effects to them. Maybe add a white vignette that fades far into the scene giving just a hint of the petals. Posted: 03/07/2023 13:06:52
Thanks Mike will look at doing more blur with the petals. Good idea with the white vignette. Posted: 03/13/2023 15:12:33
What a beautiful lilly. I like your original, and your abstract version. In both versions my eyes are drawn to the brighter background, particularly the upper right. I would experiment with decreasing the background brightness, sharpening the center of the flower and intensifying the purple center and ring of the flower to let it pop out of the background. I love the dreamy white petals. Great macro shot and impressive since hand held. Posted: 03/11/2023 10:52:36
Thanks Judith. Yes was thinking the background was a bit bright and need to balance both sides of the lily i think so will work on that. Posted: 03/13/2023 15:15:48
A beautiful lily with an intricate center. I like your abstract approach. Since the middle of the flower has more elements in focus I would suggest bring out more of the purple to really bring the eye to that area. My eye gets drawn to the brighter yellow on the right side of the image so I would suggest toning that down and maybe take Mike's suggestion of a white vignette. Posted: 03/13/2023 12:05:52
Thanks Pamela yes will look at bringing out more of the purple as you and Judith have suggested. Good idea! Posted: 03/13/2023 15:15:03
Thanks Judith. Yes was thinking the background was a bit bright and need to balance both sides of the lily i think so will work on that. Posted: 03/13/2023 15:13:59
This is a unique flower that I hvae not come across in my wanderings. Is it a Colorado native? I am curious about your lens choice. The "party" so to speak is that intricate center and I think this would be a fantastic ultra close macro subject. As presented, I agree that the background is too bright - it keeps drawing my eye to the outer edges of the frame. I would suggest working on the tone curve. Sometimes I find that is the easiest way to tone parts of an image down. You would want to pick the pixels on bright side but not all the way to the left so you don't affect whites. Posted: 03/15/2023 15:33:37
Yes this lily is a native to Colorado. I like to shoot flowers with my macro lens so i can get close up and be artistic! Thanks for your suggestions on the tone curve and this helped tone down the background so your advice much appreciated as always. Posted: 03/17/2023 16:33:00
Interesting flower: for me though the white background is a distraction as some of the petals are cropped by the framing. Perhaps if you cropped even closer, even trying out a portrait orientation there would be less view distraction. All the other post work though is well done. Posted: 03/16/2023 09:28:59
Thanks LC and yes think it might look nice to crop even closer so will try that. Posted: 03/17/2023 16:33:39