Great Blue Lobelia

Gallery: FloraPosted January 18, 2015198 views11 comments

I was fooling around with some post processing on this 19 image stack that I took a while ago. The inflorescence is from a great blue lobelia which are quite common along creeks in Michigan. The lighting was quite flat and dark due to cloudy conditions. I cleaned up some halos with the rubber stamp tool and applied some of TK's luminosity masks to control the contrast in the highlights and dark portions of the BG. TK's sharpening for the web was applied during re-sizing for web posting. There's a tiny spider right in the center which is a bonus for macro photography of flowers. K5IIs 300mm f4 + 32mm extension (1/40sec at f8, ISO 320)..................Jim

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on January 18, 2015 at 1:16 PM

It all looks crisp and sharp to me, Jim, with lovely colouring and a nicely graded background. I do wonder about a vertical crop, seeing more of the stem support, but this does grab the eye from the thumb alone.

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

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on January 18, 2015 at 1:16 PM

I love the detail and I think that you did an excellent job in bringing out the color of the lobelia.

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Bernie Kasper on January 18, 2015 at 2:17 PM

Beautiful color and the sharpness looks amazing lovely work Jim

Registered on June 5, 2005, 251 Posts, 3734 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 18, 2015 at 4:01 PM

Jim, an unusual flower I've not seen before. Good job on the stacking! I do see some dark ghosting, most obvious against the lighter green background. My suggestion would be to clone these out where there is a smooth edge, and leave the rest alone. I do like the very pleasing analogous color combo here of blue/green/yellow.

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

Comment posted by scott lanz on January 18, 2015 at 5:50 PM

Very nice, JIm Terrific background for the blue lobelia, and superb detail in the subject.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on January 18, 2015 at 7:42 PM

Good stacking job. I like the background and the color palette. Looks like you handled the lighting well. There is a faint line running just above the flower and stem at 12:00. Spider web? artifact?

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on January 18, 2015 at 9:24 PM

Love the bonus spider! Beautiful shot, wonderful colors and composition. A very pleasing image.

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on January 18, 2015 at 10:25 PM

Jim: Striking subject, striking image. Love the detail in the large version and the party crasher and fine web fibers are a nice icing on a fine cake. 2 thumbs up on the stack! >=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Barb Pflaum on January 18, 2015 at 11:05 PM

Excellent sharpness and detail with beautiful colors and a great bg. Well done!

Registered on January 14, 2009, 316 Posts, 2724 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on January 19, 2015 at 10:03 AM

This is a great take on this Lobelia, Jim. Excellent colors and details. It takes very careful timing to get the flowers at the top of a stalk open like this.

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

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on January 23, 2015 at 12:13 PM

Lovely flower and a good job with the processing. Nice cool palette makes it a pleasure to view

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments