Mothers' day flowers

[ucci]

Flowers from our, no strike that, my wife's garden. As she so rightly tells me, I am no gardener. Okay, so I do know if the woody things with leaves are taller than me they are called trees, about my height they are shrubs, and less than waist height they are plants. Oh yes, and there are two types of plants, flowers and weeds; or so they tell me. But I do know that these things can be good to photograph. So, what else does one need to know?
Anyway as it is all happening this weekend these are for all the Mum's out there. Enjoy while you can, as by Sunday Bruno, our pet sheep, will probably have eaten these subjects. He quite enjoys a feed of flowers.
Cheers
old ucci

[jiro]

All are wonderfully composed and photographed, Ken. Nice!

[Katy Noelle]

VERY, very, very sweet thought, sir! They are lovely shots.

[ucci]

Hi Jiro
Thank you tor viewing and posting a comment. Actually, could I ask for your advice please? I had a problem cropping number 2. I was in two minds. Whilst the main subject is the bud in the RH bottom corner, I really wanted to retain the soft focussed bud in the background and not lose half of it to a crop. So the final effort was a compromise. My concern is that I have retained too much extraneous matter above the main bud and it is too far towards the base of the frame and ended up with something which maybe a bit 'unbalanced' and failing to focus in on the main subject. Do you have any comment on this please?
Cheers
Ken

[ucci]

G'Day Katy
Thanks for having a dekko at my post and for your nice comments. I have to 'fess I was a bit apprehensive posting the comments as I did, this being a technically orientated site of much wisdom. I was afeared my frivolity might have gone down like a lead balloon. However, having received your imprimatur I feel a whole lot better about having 'ritted wot I rote.'
Meantime, how is the work on the repairs faring? All going well I trust.
Cheers
Ken

[Rasbury]

Your wife has a very beautiful garden.Love all the photo's.#4 is my favorite as i have never seen a flower like it before.
Ron

[jiro]

Hi Jiro
Thank you tor viewing and posting a comment. Actually, could I ask for your advice please? I had a problem cropping number 2. I was in two minds. Whilst the main subject is the bud in the RH bottom corner, I really wanted to retain the soft focussed bud in the background and not lose half of it to a crop. So the final effort was a compromise. My concern is that I have retained too much extraneous matter above the main bud and it is too far towards the base of the frame and ended up with something which maybe a bit 'unbalanced' and failing to focus in on the main subject. Do you have any comment on this please?
Cheers
Ken

Hello, Ken. In my opinion, the way you position the main subject (the bud) is still OK, although my impression is that I kind of wanting some more extra space on top and a little bit on the left for more balance. I did some edit on the 2nd image and here is what I did.

1. I expanded the size of the frame by using the crop tool and then pull the frame handles outward to expand the frame size.


2. I then selected the empty white spaces that was generated when I expanded the frame and applied FILL > Content-Aware Fill to it. There would be some anomalies on the filling procedure so you can edit the new data and use the clone tool to correct and clean the discrepancies. This is the new image with the white spaces filled using the content-aware fill command.


Don't worry about the roughness on the procedure since I plan to blur this new background layer later.

3. I then extracted the bud so that if I apply a blur on the background, I can superimpose the bud on top and it will retain its sharpness since it is on a new layer.


4.This is now the new background layer with the additional blur applied.


5. Remember I told you that the bud is now extracted and is on a new layer? We can now apply an S-curve adjustment layer to this layer to increase its contrast relative to the whole image. The effect is just minor but worth it.


6. I then applied some dark vignetting on the background. By burning the outer edges of the image, the focus will now tend to be drawn more on the bud since it is brighter and sharper compared to the other areas.


7. I applied some extra sharpening on the whole combined images to add some punch to the image. Just a little bit.


8. This is the screen capture of the whole layer procedure that I did.


9. And this is the final image with your signature and border added:


Hope this helps, Ken.

[gurvinder77]

Hi Ken,
The photos are just superb! Congrats...

Attn Jiro...
And for instructions of Jiro, they are as lucid, detailed and precise as any surgical text... I bet Jiro must have made a wonderful Surgical instructor too...
It is so nice to read such a detailed and step-by-step work-flow...
Thanks a ton, Jiro!!!

Gurvinder...:-)

[jiro]

Hi Ken,
The photos are just superb! Congrats...

Attn Jiro...
And for instructions of Jiro, they are as lucid, detailed and precise as any surgical text... I bet Jiro must have made a wonderful Surgical instructor too...
It is so nice to read such a detailed and step-by-step work-flow...
Thanks a ton, Jiro!!!

Gurvinder...:-)

[ucci]

Hi Jiro
Yes, it helps heaps thank you. And thank you very much for putting so much time and work into a very lucid and comprehensive and most instructive response. I gained much from it and I am certain many of those fortunate enough to read your post on this will also benefit and advance their technical prowess. Once again, thank you for your help in this.
Your final product was, oh I'd say as a rough guesstiment, around 1000 times an improvement on my effort. Which is great and will help me to raise my bench mark levels of performance. Which is the name of the game.
kindest regards
Ken

[ucci]

Hi Ron
Thanks for viewing and commenting. The flower you mentioned is a 'pincushion' Hakiefolia, one of many varieties of a fast growing Australian shrub. They are ideal for dry sunny positions and hardy in a wide range of conditions. We use them here at home, living on a hill, for windbreaks.
Cheers
Ken

[ucci]

Hi Gurvinder
Thanks for viewing and nice comment.
And you are spot on. Jiro is a gem and a fountain of fabulous information which he is most generous in sharing.
Ken

[Katy Noelle]

G'Day Katy

Meantime, how is the work on the repairs faring? All going well I trust.
Cheers
Ken

Thanks for asking, Ken! They're moving along. The insurance company is actually so happy that the whole church didn't burn down, they're cheerfully suggesting all sorts of improvements. It's turning into a large project. The deal is that the acrid smell of the smoke is into everything. Even the pipe organ is undergoing a renovation, stained glass windows cleaned, fresh paint (big deal), even resanding the floors, etc. We're well taken care of. It's just a huge project.

(P.S. As for the post,... you really are so funny!)

[Jo Brown]

Jiro, thank you so much for this lesson. I found it very helpful - I have a shot I've been working on and I think it could use your technique. Just great....

And Ken - thanks for the photos - nicely done!

[jiro]

Jiro, thank you so much for this lesson. I found it very helpful - I have a shot I've been working on and I think it could use your technique. Just great....

And Ken - thanks for the photos - nicely done!

Thanks, Jo. Ken's image is basically that good that is why it's easier to make an edit on it.

[ucci]