there is something wrong with this picture but I can't see what it is?

[JBW]

[ajohnw]

It's a bit flat Brian. You could do all sorts of things to it with PP. Just as a for instance. I didn't use the GIMP but that could be used to add vignetting/brightness adjustments, a little tone mapping, a little sharpening and a bit of local dodging on the rear most flower to darken it slightly as things tend to darken with distance.

That left the yellows a bit bright and the flowers still a bit flat. Used rawtherapee to bring up the pink in the flowers, damp down the yellow and green and more slight contrast and brightness adjustments all in the LAB section. The colour changes were made with the CH curve pulling colours down moves them towards black and white.

There is no way of knowing how a shot will turn out when this amount of PP is carried out on it. I like the practice. Better/worse - pass.



John
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[Wavelength]

Brian, I think you are answered more than in detail with illustration; regards

[Geoff F]

For me, Brian, there is simply too much out of focus greenery, particularly on the right side.

I usually regard this sort of scene to be more of a portrait than a landscape and work within the 'general rules' that would be used if the subject was a person.

So my version would be something along these lines. Slightly darkening the shadows would produce an alternative with more contrast.



Besides a different crop, I selectively sharpened just the flowers and added a little bit of highlight brightness, but used a mask to reduce this effect over a couple of potential hotspots.

A crop also helps to remove some of the dead and rotting leaves but under ideal conditions I try to remove these before shooting. It can be difficult to recognise all of them though.

[Geoff F]

Or an alternative to increase contrast.



An Adjustment Layer (a duplicate layer would also work) with the Blend Mode set to Soft Light at 60%. Overlay Mode could also be used but is slightly harsher.

A little bit of Local Contrast Enhancement would be another option.

[Shadowman]

The branch angling from the corner is too dominant, it forces the eyes towards the center where the subject lessens in intensity.

[JBW]

All of your points are valid. I think this is an improvement;

[Shadowman]

All of your points are valid. I think this is an improvement;

Very nice.

[ajohnw]

There is another option as well Brian. Very maybe too easy to do with the gimps clone tool.



Where to put it (or them) probably needs a little more thought than that one.

The easiest way to find out how to use a gimp tool is too google it. eg gimp burn, gimp dodge, gimp clone. The strength of the dodge and burn tools is usually way too high as gimp comes. It needs to be reduced to lower level so that the changes are applied more slowly.

On the latest one I would still darken the 2 left most flowers a bit. Probably best done before making contrast adjustments. One the 1st one I posted I had an idea and did it quickly. Then noting what happened at each step I would probably go back and start again.

I've overdone this - maybe - on purpose. Contrast increases have a problem as any increase in contrast usually needs a change in brightness. With subjects like this - low contrast pink and white etc - the saturation can be increased 1st and then less contrast applied and less change in brightness.



John
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[Black Pearl]

Excellent efforts by Geoff and Brian, really shows what improvements can be achieved.

[MrB]

Excellent efforts by Geoff and Brian, really shows what improvements can be achieved.

I agree and, in my opinion, one of the important changes made by Geoff that improves the image was to remove the green border. The best version for me is in post #5.

Philip

[JBW]

I agree and, in my opinion, one of the important changes made by Geoff that improves the image was to remove the green border. The best version for me is in post #5.

Philip

i'm just in a phase the coloured borders will pass.

[Downrigger]

It seems to me that the original was pretty busy and that one of the features of them more successful revisions (including yours, Brian, is that they are more tightly cropped.

[GrahamS]

Just my 2c worth.....

[ajohnw]

I wondered about enlarging it. Can never make my mid up about frames - fake mahogany maybe.



Personally I feel the diagonal feature is worth keeping providing it fades away.

John
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[arith]

Definitely hard to do, I think I just ended up with the same but subtle changes to light. I extracted the flowers and the put them all back on a gradient.