Jim Hagan, MPSA 2
September 2023 - Flowering dogwood
Original
Original 2
About the Image(s)
My original image was shot about 6 years ago using my infrared converted mirrorless Sony camera – see image 1. The lens was 75mm, speed 1,2000 and at f/9. I painfully selected each of the dogwood blossoms, converted them to a pink tone. Then I eliminated the sky and all the branches on the left side and from the bottom of the image – see image 2. Image 2 is shown with a white background but in my Photoshop the white areas are empty, that is there are no pixels in the areas shown as white. And, then from my files I selected one of my cloud photos and used it as the background behind my image 2.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted
(Group 87)
A very creative concept. I admire the amount of work that must have gone into the project. However, I feel that the blossoms are oversaturated to the point that they have lost all texture. Perhaps the saturation could be reduced. The more I have looked at the image, the more I like image 2 as a graphic image. Posted: 09/11/2023 16:54:40
Jim, you must have endless patience to select all those flowers individually. I do wonder if the sky was a useful addition. Your original two is very graphic and with the addition of a black keyline which would balance the white sky, would in my opinion be a winner. Posted: 09/12/2023 11:05:19
Ian, many thanks for your comments but I don't know what a black keyline is. Would you please explain? Posted: 09/14/2023 05:50:28
Ian, I am guessing that a keyline is a border. I've added a 3 pixel black border as in the attached. Posted: 09/14/2023 05:59:10
Although your painstaking process was a kind of creative process, the end result does barely meet the criteria of Altered Reality. Changing the colour of something alone, is often not enough to make an impactful creative image. When I started to produce some Creative work, I found looking at other Creative DD groups for inspiration. Posted: 09/13/2023 12:48:24
(Group 40)
The bare branches at the top left hand side are different lacking pink flowers and wonder about cloning them out or adding so blossoms there. The pink colours are certainly not real and (for me) this is certainly an altered reality image. It doesn't work for me on this occasion though. Posted: 09/18/2023 02:38:09
If the tree blossoms were more textured as in original 2, this wold not fall into a creative category, but rather pictorial. So I am torn between going back to Original 2 and just adding a sky or somehow, as you did it , change the blossoms so they have lost their delineations, which at least approaches a creative effort.
I assume you used the PS Sky replacement filter to fill in the background.
You might also consider cropping way in and just taking a branch or two as your image. The background could be something that was colorful but went with pink, or you could change the color of the blossoms altogether. Lots of play here.
. Posted: 09/25/2023 16:37:35
I assume you used the PS Sky replacement filter to fill in the background.
You might also consider cropping way in and just taking a branch or two as your image. The background could be something that was colorful but went with pink, or you could change the color of the blossoms altogether. Lots of play here.
. Posted: 09/25/2023 16:37:35
Joan, thanks for your comments. I have made another revised image. I changed the color of the blossoms to a more natural color. I "thinned out" much of the blossoms so that they are not so thick. And, I added a more natural background in place of the clouds. I think the image is no longer creative as it is now more natural looking. I might also consider selecting just a portion of the image for a future project. Posted: 09/27/2023 20:01:23