Connie Reinhart
About the Image(s)
This was taken a few years ago at Hazel Meredith’s Creative Conference. There was an area with many kinds of flowers and various props to use with them for still life’s. We were allowed to pick and choose, move them around, and even cut them to suit our ideas.
These bleeding hearts looked lovely against the birch bark. Taken with Canon 5D Mark II. F/8 for 1/80 second at ISO 1600. I really don’t remember what steps went in to post processing. I always start in PS. The finished image was the result of some filter or preset in Topaz Original Studio. I tried replicating it today with no luck. Something gave it those little colored sprinkles. It always catches my eye when looking through images, but never makes the cut. So here it is for you to judge.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted
This is what I found distracting: The blurriness of the upper bark and the colored artifacts. The artifacts could be removed with the healing brush in PS. The original image would have been a good candidate for focus stacking, using a tripod.   Posted: 06/15/2021 08:57:40
I thought I'd make another version of this where I cropped in to put the focus more on the larger blossom and put a faded white vignette on the edges. Just playing around to see how this would look filling the frame more.   Posted: 06/15/2021 17:27:32
I personally like what Denise is trying to work with your image - she has honed in on the beautiful flowers, while removing the distraction of the birch bark, keeping it and staying with the story of nature.
Witta's interpretation is amazingly creative and deals with the bark in a wonderful way by making it central to the story.
I often keep two final versions of an image, so I can use them for different purposes :)   Posted: 06/16/2021 16:22:57