Charles Gattis  


Garden Flower by Charles Gattis

July 2017 - Garden Flower

July 2017 - Charles Gattis

Original

About the Image(s)

I don’t know about the flowers in your garden, but mine seem to enjoy growing together in clumps, making it very difficult to isolate one to photograph without cutting it down. Consequently, I have to push some back, hold others out of the way with clamps, lengthen my depth of field and still have a lot of clutter in my images. Over the years, friends and teachers have shown me a way to preserve the flowers in the garden while isolating a certain individual I thought attractive enough to photograph. I have included both the original and the final images.

Olympus E-M5 mkii, 60mm 2.8 macro lens, ISO 200, 1/250 sec at f/4.5

In LR, added small amounts of Exposure, Clarity, and Sharpening.

In PS, I cleaned some small imperfections in the flower and then made a selection of the flower and the two leaves at the bottom; separating them onto their own layer. Choosing a dark green color from the original image, I used it for a fill layer, with a slight G blur filter. I then placed that layer underneath the flower and added the white border by extending the canvas and stroking a rectangular marquee with black to separate the image on the website.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
5 comments posted




 
Charles, you've learned well from your friends and teachers on how to isolate the flowers and make them pop to produce this image. Your final image looks fantastic. The darker green back background makes the pinks and yellow of the flower pop. The water droplets add interest to the image. I've attended a Mike Moat's workshop and know that he prints blurred backgrounds to hold behind flowers to isolate them. Are you willing to share how you isolated this flower to get the wonderful background you have?   Posted: 07/18/2017 17:50:07



Priscilla Farrell   Priscilla Farrell
Charles, A truly beautiful image which is perfect in every way. Composition, clarity, lighting, color, interest and impact upon first view. You did a great job of isolating the lily from the busy background. The framing completes the "portrait".   Posted: 07/23/2017 21:34:19



Lisa Cuchara   Lisa Cuchara
(Groups 41 & 44 & 46)
well done! lots of work but worth the effort
"the two leaves at the bottom; separating them onto their own layer"
I love the way the flower pops out of the diagonal and greets you! the background makes the flower pop. Sometimes, after all that masking, selecting and blurring I do lower the opacity by 10-30% and just let a little of the original show thru to avoid the completely plain background. I try it, sometimes I prefer 100% opacity, other times 90%.   Posted: 07/24/2017 17:15:49



 
Hi Charles What can i say in my opinion you have created a perfect image all the wonderful work you have done works, well done.
regards pat   Posted: 07/24/2017 17:27:15



Murphy Hektner   Murphy Hektner
Hi Charles: Simply put, a really well done portrait of a single flower. You did a great job in eliminating all of the clutter in the background so the picture is clean and seamless. I am also pleased you cropped from the bottom of the frame just enough so that green stem does not originate from the corner of the frame, but from the bottom. One of my early photography mentors who was an artist in setting up an artistic and pleasing composition in the viewfinder taught me to avoid having a flower stem originate from a corner of the frame. Dramatic lighting against a very dark green background; from a technical standpoint in my opinion there is nothing more you could have done, just excellent !!
The white border adds that finishing touch.
  Posted: 07/24/2017 20:01:21