Yellow flowers by the lake

[LaFoto]

I haven't posted any photos for a while for the simple reason that little of interest to others but myself (so I think) has been among my recent pictures.

Only today, however, I collected the latest of my bags of film with 36 new prints and feel quite happy with the outcome of some, of which I'm going to share those of those yellow flowers with you. I had thought they might be lilies, but my checking through photos of lilies via google brought up all kind of other flowers...

So let's start with an overall view of where I found those flowers: on the bank of one of the lakes my son likes to go to for his fishing:

And now a couple of details, and I'd like to hear your opinion about these:

As to the middle picture of the three: I feel the branches on the lefthand side are a distraction but they were there. And since none of these photos is photoshopped in any way at all, they are still there.
You often speak about "cloning something out" - well, how would I go about the task with this particular photo? (The thing is: even though I often read about your step-by-step explanations on how to use PhotoShop, I understand sooo little about things... Silly me, I know).

 

[captain-spanky]

Hi LaFoto, a quick explanation would be to open a copy of the image in photoshop and zoom in on the area you want to alter.

Select the 'clone tool'

Then choose a brush size, but choose one which is blurred around the edge for a softer look.

ALT-click on a portion of the image with a similar background

and using a combination of opacities and either aligned or non-aligned cloning you can begin to 'paint over' the branch.

and don't forget you can always use the history to undo stages if you think you've gone too far.

The best thing to do is just experiment and play around... Hope this helps?

 

[canonrebel]

In PShop,

1. Select the pen tool from the tool menu.
With the pen tool, outline the bud at the top of the flower and the left most pedal.

2. In the Layer Palatte, click the Path Tab.
Click on the 3rd icon from the left at the bottom of the Layer Palatte.

3. Click "Select" from the main menu at the top. Click on "Inverse" in the DDM (drop-down menu). The selection is now isolated from any alterations the clone tool is going to make.

4. Click "Select from the main menu.
From the DDM Click on "Feather" and set the radius to 1

5. Select "Healing Brush" from the Tool Menu.

6. Select an airbrush size equal to the width of the stem to be cloned
Place the brush cursor beside the stem and press ALT key while left clicking the mouse simultaneously

7. Paint the stem. paint through the flower bulb- it won't be effected by the clone since it has been isolated.

 

[bogleric]

very nice area. I would like to go fishing there. Of all of these the second picture is my favorite. The flower stands out, but the background is still of interest.

To me it appears these flowers may be towards the end of their blooming season. I bet there were really spectacular when they first bloomed.

 

[DanielK]

Hm. The leaves and the flowers are pointing directly to the branches. The branches block the directional push of the vlowers and keep the eye on the page. There's no way I'd get rid of them. It screws up the composition, IMO.

Nice pics.


Daniel