Souvenir Oriental Lily

[FrankMi]

The pistil and stamen of this particular lily are a bit uncommon in shape and size from the ones I normally see.

My concern with this image is the high contrast, busy background that can both take attention away from the blossom but also leave the eye without a 'resting place'.

For the background of this image I have increased the brightness, decreased the saturation, and selectively applied a lens blur in an attempt to subdue the impact. I don't feel I have gone far enough to address the concern, when I tried to go any further the result started to look artificial and that alone drew unwanted attention to the background.



Any thoughts on this? Should I just not worry about it or is there something that could/should effectively be done?

[darknight]

hi frank, a lovely shot, an asian lilly? i know what you mean, for me i would like the background dulled down either by a layer or maybe darkening and out of focus.
but i think a lot depends on what you want to see out of your image, i mean its really just fine, but my preference is for a darker background to enhance the petal colour

[ggt]

Crop it in closer. You'll lose that pool of water in leaf in the lower left, but that is a distraction, as cool as it is. If you want the attention on the center of the lily, remove the distractions by cropping, first, then play with filters and levels. I agree the flower looks over exposed a bit.

I like the flower a lot, very pretty!

[Geoff F]

Alternatively, crop tighter at the sides. Maybe use a ratio around 5 x 4.

I suspect that if those buds in the background aren't complete, as now, they won't be so distracting.

[FrankMi]

Hi Mark. I normally would not have darkened the background this much but I'll give it a try.

Hi Gretchen and Geoff. Let's try a tighter crop and see what we get. Thanks for the suggestion!

I also added Soft Light for the blossom fron another suggestion. I think we are making progress in getting the focus on the blossom and away from the background. I am still a little concerned that the background may be too dark but I feel better about moving in that direction!

[Bobobird]

Excellent shot at first, great shot after.

Personally I think that the inside of the flower presents some great closeup opportunities.

[darknight]

I like the darker background but not the darkening of the lilly itself, maybe just add a darker layer and erase over the lilly to keep its vibrance, but to me anyway it does draw the eye straight to the flower without looking around the whole pic, so in that sence i think its doing the job, but i wouldnt darken the flower, keep that as in the first

[FrankMi]

I like the darker background but not the darkening of the lilly itself, maybe just add a darker layer and erase over the lilly to keep its vibrance, but to me anyway it does draw the eye straight to the flower without looking around the whole pic, so in that sence i think its doing the job, but i wouldnt darken the flower, keep that as in the first

Thanks Mark. As I view both images, I think you are correct. I'll give that a shot.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Frank,

I think you lost a bit of the subtlety of the bloom colours in the second version, although I prefer it generally as it does have less distractions with the tighter crop and darkened background.

Cheers,

[ggt]

Yes!, but crop it more --get rid of the dark left side. I ruins the balance. I'd probably crop it square and lighten the dark parts on the left. I think Mark is right about the Lilly itself I like the softer look of #1. I also liked how the "buds" had a hint of the soft pink.

[FrankMi]

OK Mark, Dave & Gretchen, I tried to gently incorporate the suggestions provided and as this is an area where I feel at a bit of a loss, I appreciate all the guidance I can get!

Did I understand what needed to be done? Too subtle? - Or perhaps too agressive?

[ggt]

Yes, I'm very happy this latest version. Good Job!!

Nice details on the petals as well.