A succulent

[DanK]

Not my normal fare. Processed very differently from my usual. C&C welcome, of course.

[Shadowman]

Nice composition.

[Stagecoach]

I'm not too keen on this one Dan compared to your 'norm' but it will have a fan base I'm sure.

[Brownbear]

I'm with Grahame on this one, simply because your flower images are breathtakingly beautiful as naturally photographed.

[IzzieK]

Now I do not know what to say...I forgot!!! I'll get back to this one later when I am fully awake...

[deetheturk]

Hi Dan, I think you have done a great job on this but I would like to see the normal version, more like 'your' norm

[DanK]

David,

I redid the image, not particularly carefully, but using a more typical (for me) set of edits in Lightroom. I will post it below.

The first one was an attempt to make the patterns stand out more. I maxed out vibrance in LR, did some additional tonality adjustments in Photoshop, and then applied a harsh high-pass sharpening (radius 6, hard light, with noise reduction on the high-pass layer).

Dan

[Brownbear]

Just to say that I adore the 2nd version. Creative composition and beautifully photographed.

Perhaps, it is just a personal preference for natural colours.

[deetheturk]

+1 to Christina's comments Dan, it sure is a crazy looking flower the more I look at the first version it is growing on me you have done a great job on both, well done

[bnnrcn]

I like them both Dan. And IMO it is also a very good candidate for BnW

[DanK]

Thanks, all. Very helpful comments. I too lean toward natural colors, etc., but these succulents pose an interesting problem. Their color variation is very limited, sometimes nearly zero. Their edges are soft, and they mostly lack interesting textures between the edges. So, what to do? One optionis to convert to B&W, as Binnur suggested. I did that in an earlier one, which I then processed to highlight the main lines. I'll post that again below for comparison. Another option, which is what I tried in the first one here, is to exaggerate color as well as luminance contrasts. Maybe I should try something in between the first and the second.

Thanks again. Much to think about and try.

Dan

[IzzieK]

This last one is the first one that I like after all...from your other post about using James Edwards' sharpening action for Photoshop...now I am awake....

Thanks, all. Very helpful comments. I too lean toward natural colors, etc., but these succulents pose an interesting problem. Their color variation is very limited, sometimes nearly zero. Their edges are soft, and they mostly lack interesting textures between the edges. So, what to do? One optionis to convert to B&W, as Binnur suggested. I did that in an earlier one, which I then processed to highlight the main lines. I'll post that again below for comparison. Another option, which is what I tried in the first one here, is to exaggerate color as well as luminance contrasts. Maybe I should try something in between the first and the second.

Thanks again. Much to think about and try.

Dan