I took my wife off for a two day drive on the parkway for her birthday. I was hoping to find Rosebay Rhododendrons in bloom and finally found some nice ones when pulling off to let a speed demon pass me. I understand the Rosebay are tremendous in the Smokies this year.
The Catawba Rhododendrons are done and the Mountain Laurel are getting near the end. There were still many wild flowers on the parkway, depending on the elevation.
Absolutely splendid shot of the Great Rosebay Rhododendron. I would love to see your techs on this shot. How did you get background to fade black and yet your forground is very bright?
Excellent work my friend. We definaltely need to get out to some of my favorite wildflower spots soon.
I was just getting ready to post the same question in regard to the fade to black background. I have some Mountain Laurel I photographed on Skyline Drive the last two weekends I would like to process in this fashion.
Harold and Andrew
I got this with a combination of on site lighting and post processing. The flowers were in a dark shady area under some large Rhododendron bushes, which made the leaves in the back a bit dark. The sun was beaming through and hitting a small spot on the flower so I had my wife hold my shade about two feet above the flower. Most of the light hitting the flower was indirect from where I was standing. The out of the camera image is below.
I then used a combination of Lightroom to burn down some of the shiny highlights on the leaves and Nik Color Efex to add a soft glow and vignette (specifically the darken-lighten center filter). The "glamor glow" filter tends to brighten things that are already bright and darken things that are dark. The darken-lighten center filter allowed me to place the center on the flowers instead of in the center of the image.
Sounds like more work than it was. I really like Lightroom and Nik software. The combination is very powerful.
Finally I used Photoshop Elements to clone out some bright spots on the flowers.
Discussion
4 repliesThe Catawba Rhododendrons are done and the Mountain Laurel are getting near the end. There were still many wild flowers on the parkway, depending on the elevation.
Absolutely splendid shot of the Great Rosebay Rhododendron. I would love to see your techs on this shot. How did you get background to fade black and yet your forground is very bright?
Excellent work my friend. We definaltely need to get out to some of my favorite wildflower spots soon.
Thanks for sharing,
Harold
I was just getting ready to post the same question in regard to the fade to black background. I have some Mountain Laurel I photographed on Skyline Drive the last two weekends I would like to process in this fashion.
Great image.
Andrew
I got this with a combination of on site lighting and post processing. The flowers were in a dark shady area under some large Rhododendron bushes, which made the leaves in the back a bit dark. The sun was beaming through and hitting a small spot on the flower so I had my wife hold my shade about two feet above the flower. Most of the light hitting the flower was indirect from where I was standing. The out of the camera image is below.
I then used a combination of Lightroom to burn down some of the shiny highlights on the leaves and Nik Color Efex to add a soft glow and vignette (specifically the darken-lighten center filter). The "glamor glow" filter tends to brighten things that are already bright and darken things that are dark. The darken-lighten center filter allowed me to place the center on the flowers instead of in the center of the image.
Sounds like more work than it was. I really like Lightroom and Nik software. The combination is very powerful.
Finally I used Photoshop Elements to clone out some bright spots on the flowers.
Andrew