Flowers - Taliban Poppy, a Rose and a Buttercup

[Brownbear]

I've been photographing flowers as a base to learn how to achieve colour, focus, backgrounds, and lighting.

All C&C appreciated and I am especially curious as to how I did with the focus and lighting. Thank you.


Taliban Poppy

I made the background darker by selecting just the flower and inverting the selection. My selection is far from perfect because I'm still learning and practicing this skill.



Seems underexposed but if I exposed more the red flower would be overexposed....



Buttercup



Pink Flower

[nimitzbenedicto]

Hi Christina, AFAIK, focus is just fine.
Stunning colors and your editing is on a different level now!
Congrats!

[Brownbear]

Hi Victor,

Thank you. I suspect that I clipped the green in the red and pink poppies. Something that I just learned. I didn't think green was important in pink and red flowers but apparently they are.

Editing... Thank you. Very nice to hear indeed!

Hi Christina, AFAIK, focus is just fine.
Stunning colors and your editing is on a different level now!
Congrats!

[P2O2]

@Red flower

Hi,

Try to Adjust color level option (in GIMP, for PS there is a similar item) to remove under exposed whites, then diminish Saturation a little which enables you to increase Contrast without overexposing red. Finish with Unsharp Mask a little. You might apply Tone Mapping as well but it's not necessary, just try it and find out if it suits your sensibility to red.

Regards

[Brownbear]

Hi Przemysław,

Thank you for advising...

I tried your suggestions and even though I never found anything that allowed me to adjust a colour option of underexposed whites (I use Elements 9) I did try decreasing the saturation and increasing the contrast, and that seemed to help bring out some detail. And even though it is still too dark, I learned something new about editing. Thank you.

[P2O2]

Hi,

These options are hid under the names of Adjust Color Curves or Adjust Color Levels. Try to find a horizontal bar of sort or histogram with three small triangles under it representing white, black and gray (middle) tones. When you move such a triangle towards the black area in the histogram graph you should see the results on the processing image. What results depends on what do you do with those "triangles" (aka slider hooks).

I made two images with "white hook" two positions in Adjust Color Level window. Search for similar options in Elements 9. I didn't change the size of the two screenshot files.

Regards

[Brownbear]

Thank you. Got it... I was just confused by your terminology.
Truly appreciated.

Hi,

These options are hid under the names of Adjust Color Curves or Adjust Color Levels. Try to find a horizontal bar of sort or histogram with three small triangles under it representing white, black and gray (middle) tones. When you move such a triangle towards the black area in the histogram graph you should see the results on the processing image. What results depends on what do you do with those "triangles" (aka slider hooks).

I made two images with "white hook" two positions in Adjust Color Level window. Search for similar options in Elements 9. I didn't change the size of the two screenshot files.

Regards