pontiac1940
CE Members
Posts: 6,356
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by pontiac1940 on Feb 19, 2023 5:32:53 GMT
One amaryllis is very late to the party, but has produced a most incredible set of flowers. There are two flower stalks from the single bulb and each have (will have) five blooms. I carefully schlepped it into the dining room this morning to catch the sun and photographed it front and back. Removed one bloom from the second stalk on the right.  Backlighted with the background blurred.  |
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Post by cats4jan on Feb 19, 2023 11:08:10 GMT
How incredibly beautiful. Using the black background with the red outline is just perfect, although it looks great with gray also.
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Post by Lillias on Feb 19, 2023 12:04:27 GMT
Oh WOW love these but my favourite would be the second presentation.
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Post by tourerjim on Feb 19, 2023 15:13:50 GMT
1st one Clive, even though 2nd is nice.
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Post by jackscrap on Feb 20, 2023 1:15:11 GMT
Very impressive blooms and beautifully photographed.
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Post by Jim on Feb 20, 2023 1:53:47 GMT
One amaryllis is very late to the party, but has produced a most incredible set of flowers. Great photography, Clive! It's a toss-up for me. The first image is more striking and in-your-face but the softer background and positioning of the blooms in #2 has now won me over.  |
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cjt
Established Forum Member
Posts: 351 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by cjt on Feb 20, 2023 2:36:35 GMT
loved the photos! But, how did you do the background? Inquiring minds need to know!
cjt
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pontiac1940
CE Members
Posts: 6,356
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by pontiac1940 on Feb 20, 2023 3:48:39 GMT
Thanks all. A good opportunity that needed attention. It is a lovely specimen and will wither soon enough. But, how did you do the background? Inquiring minds need to know! The top one with the dark background relied mostly on the sun shining on the flowers and the background was in shade. I moved the plant to the dining room where sunshine comes through the patio doors. It has been very clement here (changing tonight) so opened the patio doors and shot the indoor flowers while I was standing outside on the deck looking in. I positioned the plant and me so the background was mostly shade. The second one with the arty background was shot from inside looking out into the sunshine so the flowers were backlighted. The background (although out of focus) was distracting, so what to do? In PSE, I captured the flowers and duplicated (<ctrl><J>) the selection...some edge tweaking was needed on the duplicated portion. Then the background was blurred a lot using gaussian blur..blurred so much that the green stems just vaporized. You can see in the original shot (just opened out of ACR) that there was a nasty bright patch on that one flower base by the green arrow. I fiddled with it in PSE to make it go away. Once you know it has been massaged, it stands out but generally not distracting or overly obvious. An interesting photography point here. Whereas the flower was rotated a bit for the two shots, the plant was in the same location for both. One was front-lighted and one backlighted. The position of the camera can make a huge difference. Hope that helps a bit. Please feel free to ask for clarity. Clive 
Ignore that wonky wannabe arrow in the upper right of the lower section.  |
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