Lonely Flower

jcdeboever · Sep 16, 2016

This was the only good flower in a huge batch. It was just sitting there untouched, other than the hand from a spider. Wonderful revelation.D70s - Sigma 105mm macro.

Tim Tucker · Sep 17, 2016

Err... Yuk.

I'll show you something, not because I think it's correct but because it's different, and only so you can see the visual differences.

Your histogram for this image:

It tells me a couple of things. that there is very little blue in the image that exists only in the deeper shadows, there is very little variation in luminosity for the vast majority of tones, (they're all clumped around the same narrow band in your histogram).

Compare the two flowers, above and below. Which flower looks more yellow?

The answer may surprise you a little. Actually the top one is more yellow. The yellows (the brighter parts) are pretty even in hue and saturation with saturation at about 86-87%. In the image below the saturation of the brighter yellows is between 63-73%.

So why doesn't it look more yellow? Because it's the differences in colour that we see that makes colour stand out and there's very little variation in either colour or tone on your image.

jcdeboever · Sep 17, 2016

Tim Tucker said:
Err... Yuk.

I'll show you something, not because I think it's correct but because it's different, and only so you can see the visual differences.

Your histogram for this image:

View attachment 127669

It tells me a couple of things. that there is very little blue in the image that exists only in the deeper shadows, there is very little variation in luminosity for the vast majority of tones, (they're all clumped around the same narrow band in your histogram).

View attachment 127670

Compare the two flowers, above and below. Which flower looks more yellow?

The answer may surprise you a little. Actually the top one is more yellow. The yellows (the brighter parts) are pretty even in hue and saturation with saturation at about 86-87%. In the image below the saturation of the brighter yellows is between 63-73%.

So why doesn't it look more yellow? Because it's the differences in colour that we see that makes colour stand out and there's very little variation in either colour or tone on your image.

View attachment 127671

Ok. I understand what your showing. However, the original image is very close to scene and very little editing was done. So I should edit to histograms? I am not sure I favor the edited version but I am open minded. It may be a fail .

Tim Tucker · Sep 17, 2016

jcdeboever said:
Ok. I understand what your showing. However, the original image is very close to scene and very little editing was done. So I should edit to histograms? I am not sure I favor the edited version but I am open minded. It may be a fail .

No. I'm just showing that getting a good yellow is about the background as well, how it contrasts with the other colours. It's complementary colour is blue which is virtually invisible in your image. It's something to consider before you press the shutter as it's near impossible to edit it convincingly after. It may be realistic, but it doesn't make a colourful photo. Some things just don't.

jcdeboever · Sep 17, 2016

Tim Tucker said:
jcdeboever said:

Ok. I understand what your showing. However, the original image is very close to scene and very little editing was done. So I should edit to histograms? I am not sure I favor the edited version but I am open minded. It may be a fail .

Click to expand...

No. I'm just showing that getting a good yellow is about the background as well, how it contrasts with the other colours. It's complementary colour is blue which is virtually invisible in your image. It's something to consider before you press the shutter as it's near impossible to edit it convincingly after. It may be realistic, but it doesn't make a colourful photo. Some things just don't.

Got it. Thanks. Your guidance is huge.

PersistentNomad · Sep 17, 2016

I agree that you could have brought the really steamy warmth of the original down a little (because it is all so yellow). I would do that by moving temp a little more to blue, which won't affect the petals, and then bring the background's saturation down a titch.

jcdeboever · Sep 17, 2016

PersistentNomad said:
I agree that you could have brought the really steamy warmth of the original down a little (because it is all so yellow). I would do that by moving temp a little more to blue, which won't affect the petals, and then bring the background's saturation down a titch.

I'll revisit