White on white

[Kaye Leggett]

I have been experimenting with flower shots and this set is a the result of white on white - I've been trying to merge the white in each flower with the background - have I succeeded or have I gone too far especially with the daisy ?

[tomdinning]

I have been experimenting with flower shots and this set is a the result of white on white - I've been trying to merge the white in each flower with the background - have I succeeded or have I gone too far especially with the daisy ?

In the words of someone more famous than myself: "If you ask the question, you probably have". But since no flowers were harmed in the making of these images (I assume) there is no loss, only gain.
If you are waiting for others to tell you one way or the other you will get a nice split and that will leave you in a bigger quandry.

Tell us if you think you did and why. Its your photo. Experiment as much as you like. Find the point at which you think it is 'too far' and then take one more step. Thats the dangerous but adventurous ground in which discovery is made, about the image and yourself.
You might also consider changing a few parameters you havent thought of yet. Different DoF, placement, focal plane, colour, tone, clarity, lighting, etc.
See if you can get a picture in your head as to how you would like it to look then aim for that. If you dont know how to do something you want to do, ask. If you dont hit your target, you'll finish up with something else and thats OK as well.

[pasusan]

Hi Kaye - I really like the daisy! I did a similar thing with a white carnation this past winter - I put it out in the snow and took a bunch of pictures - it was fun and I liked the high-key look. The more I played with the images in PP the more I liked them.

Keep it up!

[Brownbear]

Love the daisy, and Tom's words of advice...

[Mike Buckley]

I have worked so hard at separating white petals from a white background that I can't fully appreciate that you have chosen to do the opposite. I admire your creativity!

[Geoff F]

An interesting concept, Kaye, but it isn't quite working for me with these images. Tom has explained most of the problems.

#1 has potential but I would like to see a little more contrast and a fraction more of the petal veins close to the centre; and remove that little bit of stem.

Possibly these edits need a bit of work with layers and masks to feather the transition between flower and background. Also consider different image size crops to suit each scene.

#2 is out of focus in the foreground which throws everything else out for me. And possibly there isn't enough all round space between the flower and frame edge.

The out of focus buds in #3 are distracting to me, and also slightly too little space between flower and frame.

I suspect that positing these images singly, with a little space between each image and surrounding the images with a 'sympathetic' frame would make them stand out a little clearer.

Certainly worth a little more experimentation to get everything absolutely perfect.