Hosta meets Lily

[purplehaze]

Was poking around in some of last year's stuff, looking for candidates for re-processing. I shot this is my (ahem) garden and I remember taking time to frame it so that the hosta flowers were framed by the leaves of the lily and none of the hosta. This was shot with the Nikkor 70-200 f/4 handheld in the evening, ergo the high shutter speed and ISO. I liked the foreground/background contrast when I shot this and my processing was aimed at making the most of it. Does it work for you?


f/8 @ 1/320 and ISO 1600

Dfine used to reduce noise; brightness and structure of lily leaves reduced, and structure of hosta flowers enhanced, in Viveza; vignette added in CEP4.

[IzzieK]

Yes, it did work for me...vignetting to concentrate the view to the intended subject is a good idea.

[Shadowman]

It's a nice shot but I think the background is competing with the flower, perhaps using Viveza to darken the background a bit. I think the greenery would be a good composition in itself. Nice effort.

[Sam W]

I think it is a beautiful image. You might consider taking 1/2 inch or so off the R&LHS and bottom leaving the vignetting as is. Great PP.

[Wavelength]

Beautiful

[Geoff F]

Looks good. Possibly the dark vignette is slightly obvious on the right side when viewed with the lightbox, but nothing serious.

[FootLoose]

I remember taking time to frame it so that the hosta flowers were framed by the leaves of the lily and none of the hosta. ... Does it work for you?

Works for me, Janis. I think you could probably reduce brightness of the leaves a bit more, and feather the edge of the vignette some more.

[JBW]

Absolutely

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the feedback all; very encouraging.

Sam, curiously enough, my very first version was cropped as you suggested, but in the end, I decided to give everything room to breathe.

Geoff, I didn't know what you meant by the vignette being obvious until I looked at it against the white and the black backgrounds; I have to remember to always check that.

Greg, perhaps you will like this version better?



The flowers are less sharp in this version as I forgot to pre-sharpen and a little less bright, but overall, it is better, no?

[Mike Buckley]

The first one, which seems more delicate to my eye, works very well to me. I'm surprised that the background complements rather than gets in the way of the subject but it does. Excellent vision and execution!

[DanK]

Works for me. I prefer the first. It's a very appealing image and a nice concept.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Mike and Dan. This was a fun exercise and I learned a little more about my tools.