Wings

Gallery: FloraPosted June 15, 2013464 views7 comments

Don't know what this is but the leaves remind me of wings hence the title. Made this on while down at the Columbia Gorge with fellow NPN'ers Ken Smith, Catherine Reilly and Steve Kennedy along with a couple guys from the local photo club at the end of April. Check out the bokeh on the right side corners. Now those look like brush marks to me but I assure you they are not. The only treatments used were ACR, a NIK filter, an adjustment layer to burn down the bright center and USM. It was very windy so maybe the marks are a result of that not sure. Anyway I am fairly satisfied with what at first I didn't even think was a keeper. I wish I could get it a little sharper but it's already got some halos as you can see. Thanks for looking.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on June 15, 2013 at 7:29 PM

I think your "brush marks" are just oof leaves in the bg, Bruce. A very nice composition.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 15, 2013 at 8:02 PM

I think Dennis is probably right. The only other time I have seen things like that on my own photos is from going a bit too far with cloning. The sharpening looks fine. I don't have any idea on the ID, but it is a pleasant composition.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on June 15, 2013 at 10:11 PM

Bruce - Looks like some kind of Solomon's Seal to me. When I saw this on my phone, it did look as if the background was massaged - interesting Lens and its characteristic I guess.

A touch more DOF/Alignment to accomodate the tip of the flowers also would have been great but that would perhaps come at the cost of the messy background here.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on June 17, 2013 at 3:12 AM

Hey! I remember this. I have a photo of you making the image; I'll send it along to you.

This looks darn good, Bruce. The bg isn't helping it too much though. So, I'd maybe select the bg and then darken it in a levels layer. Given the breezy conditions, the flower/plant main subject turned out great!

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on June 17, 2013 at 6:04 AM

The plant is so well captured, Bruce - the leaf textures especially come through beautifully in the light - that this largely overcomes the slightly problematic nature of the bg. Can't add to what Ram has said re the ID.

Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 17, 2013 at 3:01 PM

I like the bow that your plant is taking and think the background fits well. I could see Ram's suggestion of darkening the background a bit or you might select the background with a blurred mask edge (say 50 pixels) and then add some extra blur (say 5 - 10 pixels) to the background. I agree with the id of a Solomon's seal, I think Branched Solomon's Seal(Smilacina racemosa)is most likely.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on June 19, 2013 at 11:51 AM

Cool perspective.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments