Nature's Fireworks

[ktuli]

An abstract taken at my local conservatory...



C&C appreciated.

Thanks for viewing.

- Bill

[Mike Buckley]

You have processed these colors in a vibrant yet naturally pleasing way, rather than succumbing to over doing it.

However, for me, it's not abstract enough throughout the image to be an abstract and yet it's not clear enough throughout the entirety to express enough realism. To deal with that, consider adding Gaussian blur to the branch in the lower left corner and to the branch extending upward toward the top part of the frame. Also try desaturating and possibly darkening the green tones to ensure that nothing is distracting from those brilliant purple, red and pink tones. Doing all of that will bring out the main branch that extends from the center toward the left and emphasize it as the subject. If understand the overall look you are trying to achieve, I think you might like the results.

[Donald]

I saw this a few hours ago just before I had to go out, but wanted to come back to it.

It is one that stops you and makes you (me) look again. That, for me, makes it a cut above the average right away. I note Mike's comments/suggestions and these may indeed strengthen it further. But I do find it a captivating image as it is.

[ktuli]

You have processed these colors in a vibrant yet naturally pleasing way, rather than succumbing to over doing it.

However, for me, it's not abstract enough throughout the image to be an abstract and yet it's not clear enough throughout the entirety to express enough realism. To deal with that, consider adding Gaussian blur to the branch in the lower left corner and to the branch extending upward toward the top part of the frame. Also try desaturating and possibly darkening the green tones to ensure that nothing is distracting from those brilliant purple, red and pink tones. Doing all of that will bring out the main branch that extends from the center toward the left and emphasize it as the subject. If understand the overall look you are trying to achieve, I think you might like the results.

Mike,

I am not usually one to try PP suggestions folks made, but I was feeling adventurous and decided to give it a go. Since I'm not very experienced I'm going to share what I did here and would like if you could tell me if I followed your suggestions correctly.

First, I reprocessed the RAW file in ACR and went to the HSL/Grayscale tab and pulled the Saturation and Luminance back on the Yellows, Greens, and Aquas. Not very much - I think -20 on the Yellows and Aquas and -24 on the Greens. When I went any further, those areas got a weird halo around them that I didn't like. But this definitely had the effect of toning down those green areas in the corners.

Then I opened the image in PS:CS5, unlocked the background layer into a regular layer, then made a duplicate copy of it. I then applied a Gaussian Blur to the whole duplicate later - I think I pushed it up to around 9.8 pixels. I then took the eraser tool and ran it over the main stem that is the sharpest in the original.

I then saved and posted here...



Did I do it right?

Now I wonder which one looks better to folks...

- Bill

[ktuli]

I saw this a few hours ago just before I had to go out, but wanted to come back to it.

It is one that stops you and makes you (me) look again. That, for me, makes it a cut above the average right away. I note Mike's comments/suggestions and these may indeed strengthen it further. But I do find it a captivating image as it is.

Donald,

Thank you very much - that is a most flattering compliment! That means a lot to me to hear someone say that about my photograph.

- Bill

[Mike Buckley]

Did I do it right?

You did right insofar as that your revision is very close to the results that I had hoped to see. However, you did right only if the revision works for you; it's your photo, so it has to work for you first, not me.

Interestingly, you initially described the image as an abstract. In this current version, I would describe the subject as emerging from the rest of the image, which indeed is now an abstract. It's a very interesting combination of abstraction and realism, and one that I like!

If you like that first revision, try taking the bright greens to the level of the dark greens. Once you do that, you would achieve the results I was trying to describe.

[ktuli]

Mike,

My jury is still out on which version I like better actually. Honestly, I think I'm debating running it through again and bumping up the Guassian Blur to about 15 or so maybe just to see it with a bit more difference from the original.

I will say I am glad I gave the different processing a try - I learned a few things, and even if I end up liking the original here better, I still have a new trick in my toolbox.

So either way - thanks for the motivation!

- Bill