This time I want to know what you think! I value your opinions! I am having a hard time keeping the center edges sharp! :( Brenda :)

Oh yeah and any highlights that are blown were done intentionally with postwork, the original wasn't blown! I think this one is my fav of the two...

Honest Brenda....this wash out on a flower of this colour does not do it justice in my opinion. Second one looks like a recovery and blue overtone on it. But what do I know about flowers. I like nice shadows and that crepe look to rose petals. So sorry girl, this one is not for me. Maybe next one.

Trying for the softness approach, guess I am just not getting it... :'(

Im guessing youre aiming to keep your center sharp and then let it fade outwards right? I played a little with it, hope you dont mind. I basically just duplicated the layer....sharpened it....and then using a layermask i painted in the faded look. Im not much of a flower-person but i do have fun playing with these photos of yours. I hope its okay. #:O) Beautiful shot btw...very classy wiht a perfect crop!

Brenda...what would happen if you used more of the rose. I keep looking at it and thinking it is so tight to edges of frame. I guess pink is already soft so it is harder to do.

I see now after i uploaded my version, that it doesnt look too different from your first version...perhaps mine is a little darker in the center.

It looks different on my end,Andreas.Although they are close.Yours looks a bit grainier,it seems like it has some more texture to me.And the color...perhaps a bit bluer? I like this image,Brenda.The center,to me is everything in this shot,so I like the slight darkening Andreas did.It has just a drop more 'ooomph'. Was the original sharp?How did you achieve that softness?It works perfectly with this lovely petal pink. :^)

Andreas did well this time! lol. Have you tried playing with the Color Balance controls? That might help it pop a bit. I did that, did a midrange contrast adjustment, unsharp mask, and noise-removal filter. If you really want it sharper though, I think you need to re-shoot it.

I don't think she wants it sharper Mr.D.I think Brenda ia looking for a soft,dreamy focus,but without losing detail. At least that's what I think she's looking for... I like what you did,too,Kortalouche.It looks more dimensional to me now. :^)

I think #2 is a lovely image Brenda. I understand what you are saying about edges and it is impossible to say without the original if they could be brought in a bit sharper. My only suggestion would be to flip it & crop - but that is what suits my personal style. You have some lovely roses there and they are making some beautiful delicate images :)

Onslow/Richard I love what you did there... And don't tell me all you did is flip my image and crop it??? Doug this is pretty much the whole flower, I cropped off the edges because I didn't want anything in the image that wasn't petals! Both of these images are postworked the original is pretty sharp but not razor sharp. Sharp isn't what I am aiming for though, Margana guessed that right I want the middle defined like what Richard did in post #13, not razor sharp but sharp enough so you can see the detail still and not look like crapola, and then I want the edges to flow into a nice silky, feminine, dreamy kind of image. Geeze did that make any sense??? This time it is Onslow/Richard that got the desired effect. When applying these filters it applies it to the whole image, I haven't figured out how to get the center semi sharp. I am missing something here, I know I am missing something here but I don't know what it is... Now that I look at it, Andreas yours doesn't look too bad either, but see how the center flows in Richard's version? And he didn't even have the original... I am having one hell of a time perfecting this technique so I guess I need to figure out what it is I am missing... I make three layers, one sharpened, one adjusting the hue, saturation and lightness (0, -70 and 0) and the third I apply a guassian blur using a radius of 32.64 (because the size is w 3264 x ??) I think it is, then I blend the layers one by one using whichever setting seems to be giving me the proper "look" I have tried erasing out the edges of the sharper rose but that isn't working either. I am very frustrated with these roses, so frustrated in fact I am on the verge of saying bag it and deleting them all... Yeah, yeah, yeah I know it is easier to shoot with a soft focus filter, but before I buy one of those I am going to frustrate the hell out of myself doing it this way... And I will learn from this... Hmmmmm maybe if I reshoot I should go with a very shallow DOF? maybe that would help??? Brenda :'(

I'm glad you liked it Brenda and yes all I did was flip and crop. I don't want to sound like an expert but perhaps if I explain why I did it may help. So at the risk of sounding too geeky here goes. The first thing that caught my attention was the flower is facing downwards so everything seemed to be spilling out of the bottom of the image. So I flipped it. I then cropped it to give it a more classic composition along the lines of divine proportions because for me that is still the most appealing form of composition for this type of image. I have drawn on the image a golden spiral so you can see what the idea is. In PSP you will find a script that will overlay guides on your images in golden sections proportions. I find it best to do this with a copy of my image as unfortunately PSP remembers where the guides are and brings the old ones up even if you have resized or cropped.

"I don't want to sound like an expert..." Why not? Thats what you are Richard. FACE IT!!!! And you just proved it once again. Brilliant explanation!!!! #:O)

I had a feeling that's what you were doing,(cropping based on the spiral).I think it's fascinating how we find these proportions more pleasing on a subconscious level...therefore it pays to use guides such as these when in doubt.Do they have these overlays for PS as well?

I find the guides useful and if you use them for a while your eye trains itself to see it without the guides in place. If you want them in PS you would need to write an action for it. I can tell you how to do that.

That would be of interest Richard, thanks. I'm a big fan of the golden spiral/golden mean.

By all means,please tell us...

I am sorry Kort I neglected to mention your posting (I was not ignoring you I swear!), I got all excited once I scrolled down and saw what Richard had done to it, even though I had the softness, to me it wasn't finished until he rotated it and cropped it! That made all the difference in the world. Don't get me wrong Kort I like your version too, but the one I posted in the gallery is the look I was going for, and always have tried to acheive without success. I usually shoot them too sharp (if there is such a thing!) And have never understood how I could take a sharp image and turn it into that silky softness. I like how your edges softened as they regress into the flower kind of like a shallow dof which, duh, I should have used! Next time I will! ;) I think your version would be very much gallery worthy if flipped and cropped like post #11. Now that I have seen the result of the flip and crop I couldn't present that image sharp or soft any other way, it made such an incredible difference! Yes I know blah, blah, blah, blah... LOL! Onslow/Richard that image with the spiral you posted along with the explanation may be the reason I have been unable to obtain the results I wanted. Thank you for your explanation! The missing piece to the puzzle! I needed that! :) Brenda :)

I looked at your upload Brenda...and it looks wonderful,indeed.Congratulations on achieving your goal! I hope you will reconsider leaving us,as you say you may...RR,regardless of recent events,is a wonderful place.The benefits of the forum and being a part of this most generous community can be seen right here in your thread.I haven't been a part of any other photo sites,so I don't really know,but do they all have forums like this,with such giving and friendly people?

Some of them do Marlene. Depends on where you go. However, the censorship/freedom of speech issue always seems to come up, people are outsted and members leave, that my dear is everywhere. Dunno what my plans are at this point. I honestly think this forum is one of the reasons I keep returning here. Posting isn't such an issue for me anymore, I guess for a while it was... sigh I have met some wonderful people both here and in other communities, that have taught me lots. One of the other sites that I belonged to had oodles of talent, it was like a back patting service, you tell me how good my work is and I tell you how good yours is. The ones that were mediocre or needed improvement were lucky to be acknowledged. I guess it is pretty much the same all over. The question now is do I want to continue to participate? Yeah for now I will anyway, we shall see. While my father was in the hospital last January through June, two men stood out amongst everyone, one emailed me on the average of once a week sending his thoughts and prayers and would always ask how I was doing, how dad was doing and when I was coming back to post again. I later found out that he is a clergyman, we still email back and forth even though I haven't posted in that community in some time. The other man is one of Rosity's own, he kept me company on my long drives to Gainesville every friday night after work, keeping me awake for the drive, three and four hour phone calls on friday for the ride there and sunday for the ride back were not uncommon. I guess you could say I have made some long term good friendships in most every community where I have been. I hope my ramble answered your questions! Brenda :)

You did... And like I said,I have never participated in any other photo sites,so I have no idea what they're like. But I am happy for two things you said here...That the freedom/censorship issue comes up everywhere,(which I think is important for people to keep in mind...),and that you have truly made some wonderful,true friendships over the internet.I have made some wonderful friends here as well,and while they may not have been 'tested' so to speak,as yours were,I'd like to think I could count on them,should the need ever arise. Thanks for your honest response,Brenda.I hope you decide to stay. Marlene :^)

I've toyed around with deviantart.com...but it is not the quality place that RR is, even with all it's faults. Aside from some private websites, I haven't been in any other artist communities. If someone can show me one better than RR, I'd frankly be suprised. I like the version you chose for your gallery Brenda. ;]

I most certainly cant show you such a site Kort. I too have uploaded a few things to devianart....but all the steps you have to go through is really wearing you out. And i also think its murder browsing those galleries. LOVE RR!!!!! I do i do!!! #:O)

I know that cyn mentioned a place she used to belong to before RR, but said that it didn't match up either. There is Photo-Genesis, but that's not the same kind of environment. Can anyone tell me about PBase? It seems popular among photographers. Oops, perhaps I should start a new thread for that, sorry Brenda. ;)

No worries Kort, I know nothing about pbase. Might have to have a look see! :) I learned tons at Use Film but the censorship thing is/was out of control there, have been getting letters from a few members recently. I also joined Fotola I think it was, I was like a grain of sand in a desert there, or at least that is how I felt. I also started a gallery on photopoints, hard to navigate for me, but I started getting the hang of it... wasn't a bad community I didn't think. I liked the fact there that when you uploaded your posting was anonymous for 24 hours, so unless you signed your work, no one knew who you were. I uploaded a few images to Dc mag as well, wasn't impressed with them either! Scratches head Seems to me there are a few more, they left such an impression that I can't remember them LOL! And of course there is Photo-Genesis, privately owned and invitation only though! OK that is the run down!

Brenda :)

Message edited on: 01/19/2006 18:11

LOL, thanks Brenda. Nothing in that to tear me away from here. At least not until P-G gets back in swing and gets a forum! ;]