Posted by John Williams on August 30, 2008 at 12:07 AM
For some reason, I can never process larkspur to a point that I'm happy with it. Here's a photo from the recent afternoon in Colorado that I've been posting paintbrush pictures from. How does this look to you? Suggestions?
Posted by Mearle Gates on August 30, 2008 at 1:50 AM
John -
I had a go at it with a combination of brightening, increasing contrast, and some dodging and burning.
Beautiful photo!
Posted by Bryan Swan on August 30, 2008 at 2:46 AM
The whole image needs a bump in brightness (a little contrast too, maybe 5 points) first of all, but I'd boost the luminosity of the purples by about 15 points and see what that does (you can do blues too if you want, just be sure to mask out the sky).
Posted by John Williams on August 30, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Mearle, you're welcome to post your version in this thread; it looks good. I play with both your suggestions, thanks.
Posted by Mark Hudon on August 30, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Did you use a GND or a Polarizer? Very good effort in keeping the clouds from blowing out either way but, with a polarizer, the photo overall tends to be a bit on the dark side. (I did my whole recent trip with my polarizer attached to my camera and ended up with real nice clouds but also a number of fairly dark photos).
Try duplicating the file, making the dupe brighter to your liking in the flower area, ignoring the clouds.
Flatten the file.
Drag the dupe onto the original.
Add a mask and then use the Gradient tool to reveal the lower photo (the clouds).
TADA! Instant GND!
Posted by Mearle Gates on August 30, 2008 at 4:42 PM
Somehow, I can't see any button for adding images to my post.
Posted by Mark Hudon on August 30, 2008 at 5:52 PM
My version.
Seems to also add a bit of depth to the photo, don't you think?
Posted by John Williams on August 30, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Here's Mearle's version. (With your permission Mearle. I'm sorry, I forgot uploads were limited to registered members.0
Posted by Bass Sears on August 30, 2008 at 11:44 PM
I think the brightened versions are a definite improvement, more snap and as mentioned above more depth.
However, I will just point out that John did a great job with the hard part... the capture itself! The whole shape of the bowls with the larkspur leading into really feels like, well, what it probably felt like!
Great job.
-- Bass
Posted by Adrian Klein on September 1, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Great job on the comp John. As already noted and fixed the FG did need a bump but looks much improved now. A beautiful place it looks like for sure.
Discussion
9 repliesI had a go at it with a combination of brightening, increasing contrast, and some dodging and burning.
Beautiful photo!
http://www.whiteveilstudios.com/images/Larkspur.jpg
Try duplicating the file, making the dupe brighter to your liking in the flower area, ignoring the clouds.
Flatten the file.
Drag the dupe onto the original.
Add a mask and then use the Gradient tool to reveal the lower photo (the clouds).
TADA! Instant GND!
Seems to also add a bit of depth to the photo, don't you think?
However, I will just point out that John did a great job with the hard part... the capture itself! The whole shape of the bowls with the larkspur leading into really feels like, well, what it probably felt like!
Great job.
-- Bass