More practising with flowers

[Kaye Leggett]

I have enjoyed all the flora of Spain - some very different to home and some of what is growing in profusion in the wild, I cultivate in my garden. Like others at CIC I am trying to improve my flower shots, so your C&C on this set is welcome.

In particular, the brightness and vibrancy of colour has prompted me to process these images with quite a boost to saturation - or have I over done it ?

1 - the Valancian orange. I liked the shadows here, but is their contrast too much ?



2 - If you know what this is, please let me know



3 - Almond blossom backlit at sunset



4 - Another take on almond blossom



5 - Another one to identify please



6 - And another.....would this be better cropped to eliminate the buds on the left ?

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, all so very different. I like the sharp, contrast of the oranges and blossom in #4, #6 has a painterly effect.

[deetheturk]

Very nice Kaye, lovely light and colors, well done

[bnnrcn]

Hi Kaye, nice images with nice light #1 is very inviting. I wouldn't crop the last one, may be clone ?

[Geoff F]

Sometimes, Kaye, high contrast does work, as with #1.

For me, #2 is a bit too complex particularly with such a brightness range between the seedheads. I wonder about a substantial crop from the right side, maybe one third or more reduced? Then end up with a 4 x 5 ratio? Alternatively crop a bit from both sides and go square? I find many scenes like this which look interesting in real life but it is a struggle to transfer that to a photo.

White flowers are always so very difficult to photograph perfectly, particularly in full sun. I wonder about cropping #4 a little tighter to the right side to reduce the distraction. Maybe a similar amount from the bottom, or try another square crop? And a clone out of a few little bits on the left edge.

#5 has something of a dahlia look to me, but too early? This is another of those occasions where a high contrast over bright scene can 'break the rules' and still look good; but I wonder about a 90 degree rotation. I'm not really sure with just attempting to twist my head for a different look.

As Binnur said about the last one, it might crop closer but I would prefer to clone out the problems.

[xpatUSA]

I have enjoyed all the flora of Spain - some very different to home and some of what is growing in profusion in the wild, I cultivate in my garden. Like others at CIC I am trying to improve my flower shots, so your C&C on this set is welcome.

In particular, the brightness and vibrancy of colour has prompted me to process these images with quite a boost to saturation - or have I over-done it ?

The yellow flower is grossly over-saturated, I'm sorry to say. I looked at the picture gamut in ColorThink and most of the yellows are clipped (color clipped) hard up against the sRGB gamut boundary. Probably, the flower image in raw space was already highly saturated. I would open it again in raw and ProPhoto color space. De-saturate quite a bit and then save-as sRGB, same as you did above. There are other ways but these involve special ICC color profiles which may not be your cup of tea.

Over-saturated images are hard to spot but if you seen color picker values of zero and 255 in the same area chances are that color clipping has taken place.

Here's a couple of screen shots to illustrate that:

GOOD



BAD



In nature, it is rare to see anything, especially flowers, that has no blue or no red. There is always some of R, G, or B in any color reflection from flower petals - researching flower reflectivity spectra soon tells that

What usually messes it up is conversion from raw to RGB colors.

And finally, it is better to ignore the common advice to under-expose flower shots to avoid color clipping. All you get is a dull image which can clip even more when it gets brightened up, lol.

In all of the above, I am talking about saturation-clipping during color space conversion, not simple over-exposure.

A tricky subject but quite necessary for colorful flower shots. Good luck!

[IzzieK]

NOw that looks complicated to me, Ted...I like the results though...might want to try that one on some of my flowers...

Kaye...#1 is OK...for me anyway...
#2 I cannot help with the ID, haven't seen that one before.
#3 and #4 I like number 4...this is a hard shot to follow in the sun, glad you have two of them..
# 5 I think I will go with Geoff in this one..
I will stop right here...

Glad you took to flowers this time around...

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks all for comments, suggestions and technical know how - I'll look again at these later today

[Stagecoach]

Nice set Kaye, the colours and vibrancy I like on all along with the back-lighting on 3 & 6.

No 4 & 6 are my favourites here, and I would prefer No 6 cloned of the bits on the right side. No 4 appears to have a bit of noise perhaps due to pushing the sharpening.

[Kaye Leggett]

With thanks for all or your suggestions...

1 - here is a re-edit of the yellow flower, less saturated and also turned 90 degrees - I think this works but it also needed a crop into a square. Overall better do you think ?



Two others, also with the square crop

2


3 - this one I have also removed some noise but am finding it hard to judge what is noise and what is flower texture; I want to preserve some of the latter



4 - And the last - with the cloning....sometimes the blindingly obvious escapes me, so thanks Binnur for reminding me that cloning was of course the answer.

[JohnRostron]

I like all of these, and the edits have improved them. I particularly like #3 and #4 (of the last posted set). #2 looks like berries rather than buds. Was it taken recently?

[Mike Buckley]

To add to the very helpful suggestions already made in the thread, when you consider subjects in bright sunlight such as in the first photo, take into account the darkness and the edges of the shadows. Depending on the availability of natural diffusers of sunlight, such as clouds and other vegetation, the edges of the shadows will be less defined (softer) when the sunlight is diffused. Once you become aware of those nuances, you can look for different compositions that are made different largely because of whether or not the natural light is diffused. Sometimes you will want diffused light, sometimes not.

You can add huge options to your photography of subjects such as these by keeping some very small light modifiers in your bag. A white reflector can be used to throw light onto part of a subject to lighten shadows. A white diffuser can be positioned between the sun and the subject to render softer edges to the shadows. Naturally, you would use those devices only when the photo would be improved by the results. There are lots of devices ranging from a DYI white card small enough to fit into your bag to collapsible devices that expand to a much larger size once you remove it from your bag. If you don't have someone to hold the device for you, there are lots of clamps made for this purpose including some that attach to your camera for making closeups when using a short focal length.

If you want to become really serious about this stuff, you can use your camera's built-in flash, a speed light attached to your hot shoe or used remotely, and even a ring light for use with closeups and macro shots.

For a compositional idea (too late for that now, I realize) look at the strong shadow of the leaf on the orange. A photo of that orange filling the frame using the shadow as the subject has lots and lots of potential.

[xpatUSA]

With thanks for all or your suggestions...

1 - here is a re-edit of the yellow flower, less saturated and also turned 90 degrees - I think this works but it also needed a crop into a square. Overall better do you think ?

Much better to my eye! That 90 deg. rotation has given a kind of "rising sun" look, especially with the darker background in the lower 1/3 of the pic.

Well done.

[Whistletown Wilds]

All I* have to say is I like all of them !

[Geoff F]

The edits are looking good. But have you gone a little too far with the yellow flower? How did it look in real life?

I find that sometimes you have to slightly over saturate some subjects to get a true colour effect.

[bnnrcn]

Edits look good Kaye

[Kaye Leggett]

Thanks again all. I'll take a look at the yellow flower again and also to Mike, thank you for your input. I will study and use very soon as our weather is set fair here for a few days and flowers and sunshine are in abundance (sadly no oranges growing around here though)

[xpatUSA]

The edits are looking good. But have you gone a little too far with the yellow flower? How did it look in real life?

I find that sometimes you have to slightly over saturate some subjects to get a true colour effect.

It's already over-saturated in places:



As you probably know, saturation and brightness are not the same.

Apropos of which, the "lower" bright flower tip have blown reds, sorry Kaye.

[Geoff F]

It looks like it might take a fraction more highlight brightness though.

I have been having similar problems trying to photograph UK Celandines where they naturally go over the top with brightness and the red channel but shooting under reduced light produces a yellow tint which is overly pale.

[Kaye Leggett]

It's already over-saturated in places:



As you probably know, saturation and brightness are not the same.

Apropos of which, the "lower" bright flower tip have blown reds, sorry Kaye.

Don't apologise.....I am really interested in what you're saying and also demonstrating. But am also at a loss of how to find this myself - what PP software are you using ? I have lightroom and photoshop elements. I thought I was getting the hang of using the histogram but I can't find the 'screen' you are using to then experiment for using it in future - help ??