A couple of flowers re-touched

[jefg99]

Thought I'd start something...

[sgelatt]

I really like both of them. On the lily, can you clone out the white stuff on the ground? It distracts me from the pretty flower. I do have a touch of ADD, so it might just be me.

[jefg99]

Thanks Sandy. Can the white stuff be cloned out? I'm sure it can. Can I clone it out? Nope. I have so much to learn about Photoshop, and one of these days I'm going to get in there and do more than the basics.

[diddee]

If you would like Jeff, I can show you how to do this.  It is pretty straightforward.

You can also use a vigianette around the flower to focus away from the distractions and toward the flower.  This is pretty easy too.

[ralph]

Hi Jeff,
Ralph here. I favor the top image. The close focus, and shallow DOF shows off the scene very well. Two other features make it work for me. The contrasting colors of yellow and violet demonstrate brilliantly how the former appears to come forward and the latter appears to recede. That, combined with the shallow DOF gives the scene a great sense of depth. The other aspect that is distinctive here is the diagonal that makes it quite a dynamic image overall. Good job.

The second image just doesn't move me. My hunch is that's because I find the Easter Lilly to be sort of the porcelain figure of the plant world. They remind me of Barby Dolls. But, that's just me. You've captured the plant in clear focus end to end, but left the background in enough focus to frame it well. The straw stems that drape in an arc under the petals make the blossom move to the upper right quite nicely. I wonder if having the stem descend into the corner of the frame would have made it even more dynamic. I agree that the image could benefit from removing the two distractions in the upper left and the two in the lower edges of the image. However, instead of a vignette, I would try simply darkening the overall image slightly, except masking the flower (bloom and foliage).

I hope that gives you something to think about.

Ralph

[Ric]

IMHO the 1st picture is a bit too busy and the 2nd picture is a great picture but I would of like to see it a bit tighter to get mostly just the flower.

[jefg99]

Thanks for the comments...now a little self-critiquing. Interesting is the way people see the photographs of others, often based on their own interests, tastes, preferences and biases. In the case of these two photos, I much prefer the former. To me, and apparently to Ralph, it has more interesting. The second offers more straightforward realism, and I believe is a decent photo of a pretty flower, but to me that's about all it is. Beyond that, it loses interest for me. I look at it, say "OK, tha's nice", and move on. I'd hang the first on my wall, the second only if I was cataloging flower types.