Steve Estill, APSA, EPSA
About the Image(s)
Another month and the garden colours move from blue to lots of pink. The papery cistus, magnificent peonies and my favourite astrantias come into bloom. Add a couple of sweet peas and the green eryngium (just because I like them) for effect and the framing is composed. These were each selected using Topaz Mask AI and then all stamped up. The new layer was treated with Redfield Quad Pencil > homegrown preset and the opacity reduced slightly. Stamped up again and used Viveza 3 to increase the structure and contrast. The opacity was also reduced on this layer and a layer mask used to reduce the effect on the sweet peas (which looked a little dingy).
I used a sky background which I made more pink using color balance and selective color, then introduced a Goth who started out blue, but I’ve always seen her as pink. I thought her smile would fit in well with this image. I treated her with Topaz Adjust AI and masked most of her out, so she appeared in the sky background.
The image was stamped up again and treated with Topaz Texture Effects > Scratched Bronze at reduced opacity and finally with Viveza 3 again - to bring back some structure and contrast.
Love it or hate it, I enjoyed it!
This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted
(Group 77)
My personal preference would be to greatly lighten or eliminate the Redfield Quad Pencil preset over the flower in the upper left. To me, it seems so inconsistent with the lack of much texture on the other flowers.
I'm undecided about the color of the Goth. I don't care for the yellow of her face. Have you tried the blue or a soft pink? To me, I cannot see any sky background. Perhaps having her a bit more translucent and therefore bluer, with only the sketch like outlines of her face would tell a more subtle story of her peering into the beautiful flowers.
  Posted: 07/02/2021 08:13:54
(Group 54)
  Posted: 07/11/2021 17:09:14
Your image works far better than mine. Using the original blooms has worked well - I think I was captured by the way the detail was being brougfht out, where maybe I'd have been better off using the flowers just as they are. I also think if I'd used a canvas texture rather than the scratched bronze it could have worked better - again I was just using a texture to tie it all together, instead of looking for the best solution.
Thanks for your help.   Posted: 07/12/2021 08:17:22