Denise McKay  

Blooming from the Dark by Denise McKay

May 2023 - Blooming from the Dark

May 2023 - Denise McKay

Original

May 2023 - Denise McKay

Original 2

About the Image(s)

This is a photo of a Dahlia I have growing in a pot on my balcony. The light was really poor on that day but I decided to take the photo anyway and see if I could pull out better detail in post processing. I was happy with what I could do, so here is the result!

Taken with my Sony A7R4 with my 90mm macro at f 5.6, ISO 800, 1/40 sec. hand held in natural light. I tried not to go too high with the ISO to prevent introducing too much noise; even though it would have brightened the image.

First edits were done in Lightroom and shown in Original 2 - I cropped, used a radial mask to increase exposure and clarity on the flower only, did a noise reduction, and removed a small spot on a petal. I also removed the edge of the blue flowerpot that showed up on the upper right side.

Second edits were done in Topaz Studio 2 using the Smudge filter which I adjusted to add an oil paint type of effect and increase the sharpness of the overall image. I also used the HSL filter to increase the saturation. The frame on the final image is just to have it show up better on the screen.

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

 
This is a lovely image of a Dahlia Denise. You have good sharp focus which really brings out the detail. I like your processing choice to use Topaz to add a painterly effect which I feel lifts the image and creates a very nice mood. This would be lovely on the wall or as a greeting card.

My only suggested edit would be to tone down the two brighter green leaves at the top as they can draw your eye away from your main beautiful subject.   Posted: 05/10/2023 06:47:12
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
Thanks Michael. I'll tweak the brightness on those leaves and see how that looks.   Posted: 05/10/2023 08:36:16
 
Hi Denise,

Dahlias are one of my favorite flowers. Your creative painterly effect really showcases its dramatic color variations and petal patterns. Beautiful image!   Posted: 05/15/2023 19:25:27
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
Thanks Jodi!   Posted: 05/28/2023 16:31:46
Connie Reinhart   Connie Reinhart
Wow! Once again, an amazing job teasing out such color and detail from that very dark image.It looks as if the radial mask did a better job than, say, NIK Viveza or Vignette. You applied the smudge filter expertly. I always overdo it and get sub-optimal results. Very well done.   Posted: 05/27/2023 14:31:11
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
Thank you so much Connie.   Posted: 05/28/2023 16:27:15
Carol Watson   Carol Watson
A beautiful image of this lovely dahlia. My only suggestion for improvement would be to change the color of the frame to one that complements the flower.   Posted: 05/29/2023 05:34:55
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
I didn't put much thought into the frame because I quickly added it to just separate the image from the background. However, it would be worth trying out a color that complimented the image. :)

Thanks for your feedback Carol!   Posted: 05/29/2023 11:59:28