A flower from our garden

[ucci]

Thanks for viewing and for any comments posted
old ucci

[jupiterlush]

I've never seen such flowers, and the different colors on it are extraordinary. How are they called?

[FrankMi]

Hi Ken, There are beautiful images of a flower I have never seen before. You are lucky to have such variety in your garden. Thank you for posting!

I really like the detail in the first one but the whites appear to be 'dirty'. The whites in the second one are much brighter but might be able to be lightened up just a little. Both images look like they may be of the same flower but if that were the case, I'm not sure why one would be orange and the other, yellow. If they are the same flower, then exposure differences could cause this I would think. Either way, if you have the software, you might try using layers and masking to retain the richer colours and still be able to make the whites 'pop' a little more.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Ken,

I think the first shot is quite 'under exposed', which has led to the increased saturation in the orangey yellows.

However, the second may have been 'over exposed'.

Although the whites are more white than grey in #2, this may have led to clipping in red and green channels, leaving the paler yellow. Thus the first shot may have been nearer the correct exposure afterall.

Flowers are tricky things - I'm not sure, but you may be able to bring up the exposure a bit in PP on #1 and still retain the saturated colours.

I am no expert, but the petals look a bit like a type of Lily to me.

Cheers,

[trevor shaw]

I think the photos are of a type of Iris, but not the usual large variety called Flag Iris

[Dave Humphries]

I think the photos are of a type of Iris, but not the usual large variety called Flag Iris

Yeah, that's another flower name I have heard of, it could be - I did say I was no expert

[ucci]

Okay People. Thank you all for the feedback on the post. And for those interested the name of the flower is... ta da...

Dietes vegeta

aka Fortnight Lily or wild iris from the iridaceae family Well called Trevor!

[seobts]

Nice pictures!

[FrankMi]

Hi Ken! I hope you don't mind if I took a crack at some additional post processing for the first image to lighten the white areas a little.

1. Made a duplicate layer and added a Soft Light Blending Mode at 100% Opacity to enhance the colours a bit.

2. Using Masks and Layers, set the following adjustments for just the white pedals because they looked better to me:

a. Bottom pedal - Brightness to -15, Contrast to 100.
b. Middle pedals - Brightness to 90, Contrast to -30.
c. Top pedal - Brightness to 70, Contrast to -20.

3. After seeing the results, set the entire image Brightness to -54, Contrast to -15.

4. Blended back in some additional detail in the brightest areas of the top pedal.

5. Cloned out two spots in the background area.

6. Cleaned up some of the edges of the pedals with the Clone Stamp Tool.

7. Sharpened with Unsharp Mask, Amount = 100, Pixels at 0.3.

If you would like I can send you the PSD file.



Hope this helps!