One more for the holiday weekend --c&C always

[ggt]

In case you haven't noticed, I've had a bit of time. For the rest of the month, my dance card is full. So, you will be spared any more.

Anyway--I've been having fun.







Thanks for viewing.

[dje]

Anyway--I've been having fun.

You certainly have Gretchen. Very creative and very nice. The third one has me puzzled !

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

Each one is better than the previous one and all of them are really creative.

In the second one, you have some reflections even though the sources aren't in the image. You either got rid of the sources during post-processing and didn't eliminate them in the reflections or the reflections are of objects that are not within the camera's field of view. Improving that situation would dramatically improve the image.

[terrib]

I like the first one the best mostly because of the color. The last one I certainly respect for its interest and creativity even though it's not really my cup of tea. But I envy your creative mind!

[DanK]

Very nice.

Well, this shows that there is no arguing over taste, but I had the opposite reaction from Terri's. I think the third is fascinating. Will you share how you did it?

Two things detract from the first, IMHO. First, I think the berries draw the eye (mine at least) away from the subject. Second, it looks to me as though the reds are blown out in some areas, e.g., on the top center. I have had a lot of trouble with red flowers, and I've read that reds are particularly likely to be blown out because of the characteristics of digital sensors. If that is what happened, I do two things to lessen the problem. First, I set the camera to show all three histograms and meter based on the red. Second, I sometimes adjust contrast using curves in a luminance-only layer, which avoids intensifying colors. I found the latter only recently. It's explained here.

[ggt]

Thanks all!

First, the third picture is the rose as mirror image than I did the "polar coordinates" option under the "distort" filter in PSE. After playing with the luminance, color and lighting adjustments.

Yes, there are a few things in the reflection of the 2nd that shouldn't be there. Not as much as was there before I started playing. After a while, I felt if I kept working it it would just be a mess. I think I might crop a lot of the bottom out. That might solve the problem without creating something that is so different from the original I don't like it.

The first is actually just the original picture cropped and the "auto enhance" feature of PSE. I was so suprised at the result I kept it. I did clone out much of the berries and toned down the luminance of the green leaves to the upper right. There was a lot going on in the orig pic.

It was a bunch of flowers someone put sideways on a glass table. They had the store plastic sleeve around them. I put my camera on the table and played with the settings a few times.

Someday, when I have a better camera, I'll get to play with the colors Pre-Processing. Until then, I'm learning the limits of PSE.

I'll play with the reds some more.

Thanks for all the comments. It helps so much.