Flaming Petals

	Flaming Petals I combined 5 exposures of these nearly gone tulips in Photomatix...Nikon 18-200 lens on a tripod, 52mm, F16, ISO 200. Taken in window light with white cardboard reflectors and a diffuser, against a dark green fabric background. Adjusted in Lightroom 3 and CS3. I used the texturizer filter to make the background more uniform and repaired the torn edges on two petals. I used the Topaz Simplify 2 filter on another version, but like this one just as well. © Judith P. MacArthur Nikon D300 Digital...

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3/2/2011 10:45:19 PM

Gorgeous!

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3/3/2011 1:02:59 AM

Great job with the editing for a beautiful result. Gorgeous color!

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3/3/2011 1:19:39 PM

Thanks for the nice comments, Ladies. Susan, nothing I did here is difficult. Combining the 5 exposures is automatically handled in Photomatix (or Nik HDR, (I tried both) but for this image, I preferred the way Photomatix dealt with the highlights on the petals) and then you can play with various sliders to tweak the result. I did some selecting/layers/masking in CS3 to separate the flowers from the background and used the clone tool to build back the torn part of two petals with bits of other undamaged petal edges that matched the missing curvature. I probably could have come close to this result with just one exposure, but I was curious to see what the HDR software would do. I enjoy playing with my photos in the computer, but it certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea.

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3/3/2011 1:26:59 PM

Beautiful work Judith!!

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3/3/2011 6:32:22 PM