Cattail (Typha)

[nanook]

These are one of my favorite childhood florathingies. In Norwegian, its name is "dunkjevle" - literally "down rolling-pin". When it sheds, it is like a cross between a snake shedding its skin and a giant dandelion. Anyhow... I could write for hours on norwegian botanical names, but that is very much besides the point.

C&C plz. I'm not sure if this image works at all, colour or not.

[Dave Humphries]

C&C plz. I'm not sure if this image works at all, colour or not.

Hi Espen,

I took a liberty, I prefered the colour one, but it looked way too understated, so I gave it a little help;


In Elements 6; I moved the black and white points in a bit initially, then applied a Local Contrast Enhancement with USM at 20% and 110px (which took the dynamic range back out to 255 and 0.
I burned the highlights down across the top.
Then boost the saturation to +35.
Then a USM sharpen at 120%, 0.3px, 8 threshold.

Better?

[nanook]

Well, ta. You did a good deal - not least of which was giving me a sharp reminder of checking the dynamic range. Ahem.

Enlarged it is completely sharp in the tiny details. You did sharpen it a bit yes, and it suits the image at this size. Your saturation was a bit on the heavy side, but a tad more orange does bring out more punch, I agree. Burning the top works better when I have left the background so dark, I agree.

Your reply is one of the densest information packages I have read in a while. Thanks - I learn by it. The devil is in the detail.

What I initially liked, which on my work screen is impossible to even discern the possibility of, are the sepia feeling of the original. The details in close-up are also fascinating, but instead of cropping, I'll go back and take new pictures.

I have given this image up to the eternal dustbin. It lacks a certain something.

Thank you ever so much for such constructive feedback.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Espen,

Thank you ever so much for such constructive feedback.

Your reply is one of the densest information packages I have read in a while. Thanks - I learn by it. The devil is in the detail.

No worries, I learn too

As I'm sure you appreciate (as I can see from the detail in your reply), some of what I did wouldn't be applicable to working on the larger and/or RAW image. I never know whether to leave those bits in or not (e.g. the "8 threshold" on final sharpen, it's only there to not sharpen the unavoidable jpg artefacts). I fear it may not help those less experienced reading this later.

not least of which was giving me a sharp reminder of checking the dynamic range. Ahem.

Not sure there was anything too badly wrong with histogram in your posted image, I just moved them "in a bit" because I didn't want to lose highlight and shadow detail when I applied the LCE with USM.

Cheers,