Charles Gattis
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
(Groups 41 & 44 & 46)
"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
regards pat   Posted: 07/24/2017 17:27:15
The white border adds that finishing touch.
  Posted: 07/24/2017 20:01:21