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3 dandelions and some vincas.

© Peter W. Marks

3 dandelions and some vincas.

Uploaded: April 15, 2011

Description

1/8sec; f8; 100 ISO; 50mm fl. The dandelion at the top was cloned from the large one on the left and transformed for size and shape.
My thinking was that this gives a better balance than just having the original two side-by-side flowers.

Exif: F Number: 8, Exposure Bias Value: 0.33, ExposureTime: 1/8 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 100, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 50.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 50D

Comments

Stephen Shoff April 17, 2011

Good thinking, Peter. I hadn't noticed it was cloned although a more astute observer might have picked up on it. Certainly resizing it helped. Sharpness and DOF are petty good. I think you created a nice composition. #1370082

Jeff E Jensen April 17, 2011

Yup, good choice on the clone. The composition works well.

Now, where did I leave my Round-Up? #9355347

Leslie D. Regal April 17, 2011

The third dandelion absolutely adds to the balance, and I never would have known it was cloned. Nice! I might try to eliminate the unopened dandelion bud on the right since for me it distracts a little. #9355348

Peter W. Marks April 17, 2011

Thanks guys. You Jeff are just showing how jealous you are because you don't have any flowers yet.
I take your point Leslie about the closed dandelion but I don't think I can summon up the patience to clone that one out. There is too much work out in my yard as the sun has come out again today and the grass is growing about an inch per day. #9355394

Jeff E Jensen April 17, 2011

Hey now, yesterday I mowed the lawn, raked the lawn after it was power raked, moved some dirt, pulled out some bushes, planted pansies, fertilized, and plucked the heads off half a dozen dandelions. With any luck, the rain that is forecast for most of the week will not change to snow. #9355404

Dale Hardin April 17, 2011

Peter, you done good! That change really enhanced the composition. As far as the bud, you have done enough and it's time for your nap. Don't want to do too much too soon when experimenting with image enhancement. :o)

Jeff, sorry to see you do all that work. I did my duty by closing the window so I couldn't hear the gardener as he mowed the lawn. Disturbed my nap. #9355584

Michael Kelly level-classic April 17, 2011

Nice job Peter. I like it! The clone worked well to balance the shot which is excellent for clarity, color, and comp. I like the recognizable but non distracting BG also. Good Job my friend. #9355831

Rita K. Connell level-classic April 18, 2011

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day, yes sir!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin' my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actual
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, feeling this way

Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder
It is the truth, it's actual... huh?
Where is that bluebird? Mm-hm!
Ev'rything is satisfactual
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day

pete actually changed an image to bad he is take that unopen dandelion out and give a little level adjustment. #9357364

Peter W. Marks April 18, 2011

I did more than change the image my singing friend and the guys. I USED A TRIPOD. I do believe it is the very first image I have shown on which I have used one and I used the wireless remote I purchased a few months back. It's a nifty bit of gear. #9357481

Dale Hardin April 18, 2011

Dog gone it. Now you've gone and made me cry! A tripod. Sniff, sniff.... #9357676

Jeff E Jensen April 18, 2011

Alright, who's the new guy and what did he do with Peter? #9357799

Beth Spencer April 19, 2011

I think you did a great job!! I would never have guessed the clone and ......
no one said anything about the yellows!! L0L! #9358512

Debbie E. Payne April 19, 2011

Peter -- you are branching out! I like this composition - good pattern and great complementary colors. I didn't notice the clone either. And a tripod...we are all impressed. I'm not sure I want to get used to "some new guy". Tell us a story about this image.

And Jeff...how would you like to come over and do all that to my poor garden. When you are finished we could take off for Garden of the Gods or the zoo to see our amazing giraffes. No....Okay! #9358526

Peter W. Marks April 19, 2011

Well my good friends, the "new guy" has allowed me to come back!
The dandelions were a good place for me to do the branching out. With the strong difference in tonal value between the green and the yellow it was easy to select the flower with the Magic Wand tool set on "Contiguous". and at about 90% tolerance. I then copied and pasted it to a new layer and then used >Edit>Free transform which enabled me to resize the flower and rotate it and distort it slightly so that it wouldn't look identical to the original. ( I had to be a bit cunning or someone would have jumped all over me and accused me to cheating!) But just to show I am a nice guy, I did deliberately leave a clue for y'all to spot. Notice that on the original flower at the 12 o'clock position there are four or so of the tiny petal bit that look joined together but by using the free-transform I rotated the flower so that these petals are now at approx 1 o'clock. You see? I'm not just a pretty face!
Do note, I use Photoshop CS2 so I have no idea whether or not these adjustments are the same on Elements or later versions of CS. #9358871

Anthony L. Mancuso April 19, 2011

Well done Peter (or whoever you are). changing the size and distorting the cloned flower was a genius move, I will have to tuck that one away in the vault... #9359298

Carla Capra Anderson April 19, 2011

Hi Peter;
Well, Well, Well I'm over here doing my best happy dance. We seem to be rubbing off on you and you are indeed stretching a bit. ;) All kidding aside, good for you. I did not notice the clone, which is great btw and good technique. I immediately was drawn to those yellow dandelions as my eye move from one to another and back around again. Mission accomplished, whew whoo! Those little lavender flowers are so pretty. Love the color and size difference. I did see something on the greenery that made me feel you'd used a texture or filter of some kind. Wonderful.
;) CC #9359387

Peter W. Marks April 20, 2011

Hi Tony. many thanks my friend. I did consider making the distorted flower copy really different as PS '>Edit>Free transform'. allows one to not only resize and change proportions but also all sorts of weird and wonderful change of perspective, warp, skew etc which would have made it impossible to have guessed which flower had been copied. Salvador Dali, eat your heart out, we could have made your image of melting pocket watches with just a few clicks in PS.
And many thanks to you too Carla. I shall take your 'happy dance' as the thing of great beauty I know it is, not you gloating over the old fella capitulating to you bunch of pixel-pushers. And I do owe it to you all as so many have expanded on my own narrow focus of believing 'content is greater than quality' by you folks giving more explanation of why, where and how their images were made.
Yes, I did do things to the greenery but have forgotten what!! I am fairly sure I selected that on a seperate layer and played around with all the dozens of options in either Topaz Adjust or Topaz Detail. Neither can I remember exactly why or what effect I was going for, but did want it just a tad different than photorealistic.
I think that losing one's memory is a terrible thing but I can't remember why. And if nothing else, having on one grey sock and one brown one is arguably an artistic statement- so there! :) #9360321

Carla Capra Anderson April 20, 2011

Oh no, never gloating, Peter. ;~)
Lov'n this.
;) CC #9360640

Aimee C. Eisaman April 20, 2011

Wow this one just jumps out and grabs my attention. Great detail you brought out in this and the color is wonderful too! :~) Can almost feel the texture in the green leaves! #9360691

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