Patrick O’Brien
February 2025 - Amazonian Lily
About the Image(s)
Found this unusual flower at Fort Worth TX botanical garden. Thankfully had my Nikon D7100 camera with me! Non-macro 18-200mm Nikkor lens used with available light.
Converted to monochrome, masked and layered the white flower and "pasted" it onto a black background. Simple chiaroscuro procedure to highlight the flower and add drama with white against black.
FYI: My preferred monochrome conversion process uses "Black and White" Adjustment filter in PS or RAW because it can apply various colored filters similar to the lens filters used in the analog era as suggested by Ansel Adams. Big fan of using the red filter for near-black skies and quasi-infrared look.
6 comments posted
Welcome to group 64, Patrick. I can see we are going to enjoy your images.
Your contrasty techique has produced a striking result, which I like. Well done! I agree, use of the colour sliders in the mono layer can have a profound effect on the result, so I almost always use it. I prefer to do the RAW develop without converting to mono there, as I can use either a mono layer or NIK to develop these contrasts in the developed image. Posted: 02/08/2025 21:35:55
Your contrasty techique has produced a striking result, which I like. Well done! I agree, use of the colour sliders in the mono layer can have a profound effect on the result, so I almost always use it. I prefer to do the RAW develop without converting to mono there, as I can use either a mono layer or NIK to develop these contrasts in the developed image. Posted: 02/08/2025 21:35:55
Patrick,
Your image does not look sharp to me. Try some sharpening technique to see if you can bring out more detail especially in the whites.
Posted: 02/09/2025 18:34:42
Your image does not look sharp to me. Try some sharpening technique to see if you can bring out more detail especially in the whites.
Posted: 02/09/2025 18:34:42
Patrick O’Brien
Being new here, I was remiss in stating the effect I wanted. I used a "smoothing" filter for a softer look. I use this filter on most florals and automotive images for a more "glam" look, just as one would on a portrait. I often apply a glow filter to accomplish the same goal depending on the subject. I am an adherent of Ansel Adam's Zone System, whereby most of the time, there is still detail in the highlights and shadows, unless I intend the image the be otherwise. Posted: 02/10/2025 01:35:07
I dont mind the softness as it suits the subject; it gives the flower a smooth silky feel. I have not tried a smoothing filter so have noted to give it a go. For similar effect I like to use the gaussian blur filter on a separate layer as I can easily control the amount of softness with the sliders.
Your treatment also shows plenty of texture and line detail. I am not keen on the totally black background as the flower seems to be floating in limbo. It does however emphasis the shape and form. Posted: 02/17/2025 00:59:50
Your treatment also shows plenty of texture and line detail. I am not keen on the totally black background as the flower seems to be floating in limbo. It does however emphasis the shape and form. Posted: 02/17/2025 00:59:50
Patrick O’Brien
I use Gaussian primarily to simulate depth. My non-PS advanced /pro filter preference is Luminar Neo. I was never impressed with NIK, but that was over 10 years ago. Neo's filters are very comprehensive and easy to use with real-time preview and works seamlessly as a PS plugin. I used the chiaroscuro background because I wanted the flower to "emerge" in order to enhance the bizarre shape of the flower.
Luminar Neo free trial here if you're interested:
https://skylum.com/luminar?clickid=22FSJwXf2xyKW1XWAR1v02SrUkszqTx8KVfBTE0&irpid=2456795&aclid=&platform=IR Posted: 02/17/2025 23:09:21
Luminar Neo free trial here if you're interested:
https://skylum.com/luminar?clickid=22FSJwXf2xyKW1XWAR1v02SrUkszqTx8KVfBTE0&irpid=2456795&aclid=&platform=IR Posted: 02/17/2025 23:09:21
I like the smooth milky appearance of the flower. In fact it looks like one of those high speed photos of milk drops.
Posted: 02/18/2025 00:51:12
Posted: 02/18/2025 00:51:12