Peace Lilly

[CherylL]

How is the exposure? Too dark?


Peace Lilly by Cheryl, on Flickr

 

[Space Face]

Looks slightly subdued imo but maybe that was intended.

I like the composition and the look of the plant.

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

This creates a nice mood. I love these simple, beautiful flowers. Every time I see one, I am reminded when our late Miss Daisy was just a very small puppy and we had to leave her and the other 2 alone while we did some errands. I was always apprehensive when we walked in, because boxers are known for their mischief. My father had just passed away, and I had been given a Peace Lilly from his funeral. Who knows how a boxer's mind works? For some reason, she must have resented this new addition to our home. Maybe it was because it received attention she felt should have gone to her. Maybe she hated it's smell? I stood in disbelief when I saw how she had shredded the entire plant to pieces so small, I did not even think of attempting to salvage it. Even the roots were indistinguishable from the rest. It looked like she had pulled the plant up from the pot and obliterated it! There was just the cavity where it once had lived and was thriving one minute. There was very little dirt disturbed otherwise, as if she thought that thoughtful act alone would be enough to keep her out of trouble. I am sure boxer parents are nodding as they read this. RIP, Miss Daisy...you gave us many memories and laughs.

 

[K9Kirk]

Yes, was my first thought ... a little too dark. After examination I think that I would just try bringing up the whites first, they're a little blue. The extra contrast might be enough to make the light right. If not then whatever else it takes. I like the image, though.

 

[smoke665]

@CherylL K9 beat me to it. I was going to say bring up the whites, and maybe contrast, clarity and dehaze.

@Dean_Gretsch our Boxer was a sweetheart......most of time, but occasionally she could be a stinker.

 

[CherylL]

Looks slightly subdued imo but maybe that was intended.

I like the composition and the look of the plant.

I agree too subdued

Yes, was my first thought ... a little too dark. After examination I think that I would just try bringing up the whites first, they're a little blue. The extra contrast might be enough to make the light right. If not then whatever else it takes. I like the image, though.

I'll try that thanks

@CherylL K9 beat me to it. I was going to say bring up the whites, and maybe contrast, clarity and dehaze.

@Dean_Gretsch our Boxer was a sweetheart......most of time, but occasionally she could be a stinker.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[CherylL]

This creates a nice mood. I love these simple, beautiful flowers. Every time I see one, I am reminded when our late Miss Daisy was just a very small puppy and we had to leave her and the other 2 alone while we did some errands. I was always apprehensive when we walked in, because boxers are known for their mischief. My father had just passed away, and I had been given a Peace Lilly from his funeral. Who knows how a boxer's mind works? For some reason, she must have resented this new addition to our home. Maybe it was because it received attention she felt should have gone to her. Maybe she hated it's smell? I stood in disbelief when I saw how she had shredded the entire plant to pieces so small, I did not even think of attempting to salvage it. Even the roots were indistinguishable from the rest. It looked like she had pulled the plant up from the pot and obliterated it! There was just the cavity where it once had lived and was thriving one minute. There was very little dirt disturbed otherwise, as if she thought that thoughtful act alone would be enough to keep her out of trouble. I am sure boxer parents are nodding as they read this. RIP, Miss Daisy...you gave us many memories and laughs.

Sounds like a typical boxer. When our first boxer was a puppy we came home and looked into the living room window. Our couch was all over the room. Upon further inspection she didn't tear any fabric. She had unzipped all 6 cushions. So no harm. Of course my MIL who doesn't like dogs was visiting us that week.

The lily is from my Mom's funeral 7 years ago. The anniversary was recent and it was nice to see it bloom.

 

[CherylL]

Upped the contrast

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

Sounds like a typical boxer. When our first boxer was a puppy we came home and looked into the living room window. Our couch was all over the room. Upon further inspection she didn't tear any fabric. She had unzipped all 6 cushions. So no harm. Of course my MIL who doesn't like dogs was visiting us that week.

My wife's friend was up visiting from Ft. Myers, Fla about the same time the Lilly episode happened, and she still talks about how we were so calm and collected when we came home to see white paw prints on the kitchen door window. When we opened the door, we saw Daisy had somehow gotten a cabinet door open and opened a full flour sack and spread it all over the floor. The paw prints were from the older dog. She was still too little to reach the window. We always tell the friend " What can you do? They probably aren't going to relate the scolding to the act at that point in time. We bare some of the blame for not baby-proofing the cabinet better! ".

 

[smoke665]

Better but it's more than just upping the contrast. Here was the original histogram. There's not much from middle gray up, which is causing washed out the contrast. At the same time your losing much of the micro contrast that makes minimalist images like this shine.

If that's the intent, then I defer to your judgement. However there's more that can be done to this besides just upping the contrast, which is a global change. First off if do a levels adjustment layer like so. I used these settings but its a matter of taste. Moving the middles slider left will give more illumination to the stalk in the center.

Hit Crtl +Shift+Alt+E to clone stamp a new layer to the stack that includes the changes. Convert to Smart Object. Now adjust the micro contrast by going to filter>sharpen>unsharp mask. I used these settings, but if you made the layer a smart object you can go back and adjust as needed.

Click okay, then Dbl click on the layer to open up blending mode. Use these settings to start, this will cause the adjustments you made above to only apply to the midtones.

You can stop there if you like but to bring out the details a little more, hit Crtl+Shift+Alt+E to clone stamp a new layer. Go to Filters>Other>High Pass, set your radius to around 5, hit okay then change the blend mode to overlay. Adjust the opacity to decrease the sharpening effect. And this is an example with the changes.

 

[CherylL]

@smoke665, Bill thanks for the info. I keep forgetting about the "blend if" option.

 

[SquarePeg]

Cheryl IMO it was too dark at first but I really like your edit and would leave it at that.

Everyone has a different vision. I don’t look at the histogram much when editing, I just go by what I see on the screen and what I like and what image I had in mind when I took the shot. The look of a perfect histogram is rarely what I had in mind when shooting.

 

[smoke665]

Everyone has a different vision. I don’t look at the histogram much when editing, I just go by what I see on the screen

True everyone has a different vision, which is how it should be, it would be a dull world if we didn't. Its also true we all have different skill levels. You like most of us have grown in your skill over the last few years, the need to "look" at the histogram constantly might not be as necessary. However to discount it entirely is to give up a valuable tool in the box.

 

[CherylL]

Cheryl IMO it was too dark at first but I really like your edit and would leave it at that.

Everyone has a different vision. I don’t look at the histogram much when editing, I just go by what I see on the screen and what I like and what image I had in mind when I took the shot. The look of a perfect histogram is rarely what I had in mind when shooting.

I go mostly by the screen too. At least with the Fuji you can preview in the eye piece instead of the back screen. In post I do glance at the histogram in ACR.