Initial attempts with a cleome

[DanK]

Cleomes are remarkable flowers, but they are extremely hard to photograph, in part because they are so deep. This was my second try. It's a composite of 27 images. The main composite is Zerene Dmax (with a high contrast setting), with some touching up from a PMax composite and a great deal of cloning and healing in photoshop. It's not up to snuff--a few of the anthers aren't completely clear, which I think is probably motion blur, and the cloning and healing leaves something to be desired. Still, C&C welcome, as I will probably try again...

[xpatUSA]

Gorgeous color and well done, Dan. Certainly a difficult subject by the looks of it!

[Antonio Correia]

Dan, I appreciate your work.
The flower is very nice and the image you have done is gorgeous.
I think you have done it under artificial light - which is clear to see - with a black background.
I admire your work of composing 27 photographs to come to this result and all the work in Photoshop.
The result is really nice.
Thank you for posting such a beauty !

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Round Tuit]

Dan,
This is a stunning image. I can see that it would be a challenge for Zerene to sort out the stack.
There are a few places where the filaments and/or anthers either go through a petal or become transparent where they cross the edge of a petal. I would have thought that this kind of flaws should be relatively easy to fix in Zerene. Mind you, I have never stacked anything that complex.

[Wavelength]

Classic, beautiful!!!

[DanK]

Thanks, all.

Andre--it may be. I do a section by section view at 50% to look for artifacts, which is normally sufficient. In this case, there were so many that I missed a few.

These comments suggest that it might be worth another round, retouching more aggressively on Zerene. Unfortunately, to redo the touch-up in Zerene means having to redo the extensive touch-up in photoshop, as the Zerene retouching is done before the composite TIFF is stored. Also, when a stack is this deep, retouching is slow, as it can take some time to find the right image to use as a source. However, it may be worth doing.

[rpcrowe]

Lovely image...

[DanK]

Well, prompted by these comments, I created a new composite, did considerably more retouching in Zerene, using individual shots as well as a second composite, and did more painstaking cloning in Photoshop. It's not dramatically different, but I learned something about how to lessen the problems Andre pointed out.

[Round Tuit]

Well, prompted by these comments, I created a new composite, did considerably more retouching in Zerene, using individual shots as well as a second composite, and did more painstaking cloning in Photoshop. It's not dramatically different, but I learned something about how to lessen the problems Andre pointed out.

The overall look may not be dramatically different but the details were certainly worth the effort.

[mugge]

I love it. My main concern is the left top corner where the petal is cut from view; everything else is stunning in my estimation.
Cheers Ole

[DanK]

I love it. My main concern is the left top corner where the petal is cut from view; everything else is stunning in my estimation.
Cheers Ole

Hi Ole,

Thanks. Do you mean the big one cut off on the top edge or the little one cut off on the left edge?

Dan

[billtils]

It's an absolute cracker, even by your very high standards. (Agree with Ole about the petal fragment top left though).

[DanK]

Thanks, all. The originals don't go higher, so I can't extend the image to capture the vertical petal. I don't that I could clone it out realistically. If the issue is the small one on the top left edge, I can easily remove that.

One of the things that makes Cleomes so tough is that they are a complex array of structures, and that makes it very hard to isolate interesting parts.

Cleomes are like aggressive weeds--once established, they self-seed with abandon. So, we have more, and I may try another one.

[DanK]

Actually, those changes turned out to be quite easy. Here's a quick-and-dirty I did on my laptop. Will do a more careful revision later. Thanks for the suggestion.

[mugge]

Dan, now I can breathe a sigh of relief
Cheers Ole