I have received several requests to see an original of some of my submitted work, (specifically, the Floral Elegance-take 2) close-ups 1 and 2. I have seen others submit work into the forum for comments or clarification and thought this particular original had some justification for doing the same. It is not a very good photo at all and maybe some discussion could ensue as to what was done to get something useable out of a poor quality image. At the very least it would provide a safe, easily accessed place to all who showed an interest. If there a problem with doing this i will delete and not repeat the mistake. I have no desire to make waves, or step on feet, or bend any conventions. I just wanted to accede to some requests in the most logical way I could and possible start a discussion on making silk purses out of sows ears. Lee

hi Lee.. yep.. this is the place for posting a request to see an original in the gallery & discussion... as long as they know it's here :] i do remember this one... the compo is excellent, the flower forms, whimsical, but the lighting is a bit harsh... certainly enough here to work with it though!! would luv to have a go at it.. but gotta go for now ;o))) give em time, they will come...

thanks for posting it. what did you use for a backdrop? the flowers is quite unique to me

Hi all, I am thrilled to provide whatever info anyone wants. To start, i took this outdoors late evening with a nikon7900. I just got this camera and so far have used mostly the default settings till i learn where everything is, and what it does, and what the icons and flashing lights mean lol. I was pretty sure i shouldn't used the flash but i did anyway. Turns out i was right, it is way too harsh. Washed out the colors and did nothing good for the back drop. The backdrop is just a scape of fabric that is very dark blue and coarse woven but light weight. Not sure what it is called. It has little bump knots everywhere and is loose enough of a weave to be transparent. The flowers are a common variety of spider lily. They pop up almost overnight on long thick stems with no foliage. They are a bulb plant. They last quite a while both outside and cut. If anyone wants to use the pic for whatever reason be my guest. I would love to see the results tho. It is always interesting and often informative to see different interpretations of the same basic image. This one is of course reduced quite a bit to comply with posting rules. Straight out of the camera it was 7 megs and close to 3000 x3000. Not sure what it was after cropping. I would gladly email the full file to anyone interested but i don't think my email server or dial up connection would deal with sending that size very well. If it did it would take a long long time. Not sure how to get around that problem. Thanks all for the interest and if i can do anything just let me know, Lee

There's a .com called 'yousendit' that will allow you to send files up to 1GB on it.I've used it a few times and it's always worked for me. Spider lily...is that Cleome?I can't tell if it's that but it certainly looks similar. LOL I thought these were pressed flowers.I guess the flash really does 'flatten' things! Did you post this in your gallery?Perhaps you can provide a link so we can see what you did.I don't get to visit the gallery as often as I'd like so I miss quite a bit. There are so many helpful people here.I think you'll like the forum alot once you see how helpful and friendly everyone is.And you certainly found the right place to handle such a request. Have a good night/day whatever,lol. :)

Hi Margana,
The family name is "Amaryllidaceae". The genus name is "Lycoris". The species is "Lycoris radiata". Don't think it is a cleome nor a lily either, lol. Sorry but i have no idea how to link to the gallery it is in. Photography/plants and flowers under "Leeco" is as good as i can do. Thanks for the "yousendit " link. I will check it out but i think it is a phone line problem not email provider or isp.

Lee

Message edited on: 10/10/2005 01:24

Message edited on: 10/10/2005 01:26

Just go to that page and cut and paste the address.Then add it below at the http thingy....OOH!Lookie at me helping someone,lol!For the first time I know something!!!LOL!

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1062930&Start=19&Sectionid=8&filter_genre_id=46&What

I hope this gets you there. It'[s my 2nd attempt but still trying lol.

It worked just fine.See...no biggie.If I can do it,lol... lovely pw by the way.

Your best bet is to not paste the whole url in...for security and a chance that someone could actually log in on your session... in your ID you need only copy and paste this. Stop the highlight at the end of number and do not have the &Start=yadda yadda after it. Then in the Caption box....you can type the name of something like Go Here or the name of your image. See this...I stopped at the end of your number. http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1062930

I really like this!! It's very creative and original! I like the contrast of colors between the flowers and the background as well as the compo! The light is a tad harsh indeed but that's easily fixed! ;) A great pic IMHO! Love the style! And welcome in the forum btw! :)

I gave it a go! Hope u don't mind! :) I just darkened it a lil and added a soft filter to soften the harsh light. here's the steps: Exposure compensation: -0.25 Balance adjustement: 120 general contrast: 10 radial density corrector: lower edges by 50% Soft filter: spread: 10 and effect: 30 and selective sharpening on the flowers to finish.

Well tibet2004uk, of the 6 steps you listed, i know where and what only one of them (general density) is lol. What you did definitely improved the actual flowers but did nothing for that awful background, lol. I really need to experiment more with a lot of the editing tools. I found a few i understood and could use and have not strayed too far from them but i realize i need to expand. I really like the idea of seeing and learning how others would handle this picture. Now if i was just smart enough to understand how to apply that knowledge to other images ,lol.

Oh but....didn't know u wanted to fix the background! O_o I just adjusted the harsh light. for the background, if u want something uniform and smooth, a 'lil cloning should do! ;)