soft flower c&c

[echoyjeff222]

Hi all,

Been working on creating a soft flower look for awhile now. Was inspired by Jarmila Vymazalov 500px

Spent a few hours today trying to get the shot I wanted. I have no clue how this fern decided to wrap itself around that flower like that, but it definitely helped me out!

I have a few different crops that I'm trying out on this. I'm not sure which one I like more. I'm leaning toward the original because of the top left water drop. Thoughts?

I also spent awhile trying to figure out what colors would go with one another. I think these shades of yellow and green work?

Also any comments on the overall pic are welcome, thanks!

original:
IMG_4791 by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr
crop1:
IMG_4791-4 by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr
crop2:
IMG_4791-3 by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr

 

[Derrel]

I am REALLY liking this composition.

 

[tirediron]

I'd go with the original myself. Great background.

 

[paigew]

I like the original as well. Beautiful photo

 

[knswee]

I like the original also...

ken

 

[WesternGuy]

Very nice. I was writing away and then for some reason IE hung up on me and I have to remember what I was writing as there does not seem to be any backups available .
========================================================
You have an excellent start on your photographic journey here . Thank you for the reference to the flower photography of Jarmila Vymazalov. Flowers are one of my favourite things to shoot and I always like to see how others are doing theirs. You might want to check out the flower photography of Kathleen Clemons as her imagery is also very artistic - Flowers .

I like the original and the first crop. In the second crop, the leaf of the fern is mainly horizontal and so it tends to take the viewer's eye out of the image. In the first two, the leaf acts as a frame and focuses the viewer's eye on the flower. I wouldn't use the water drop as a reason for choosing the first image as it is also a distraction and thus draws the viewer's eye away from the flower. You could, of course, use the water drop as the subject of another image.

If you are going after the "soft" image, then you may want to consider softening the fern leaf as well - just a suggestion.

One other thing that I noticed, almost immediately, was what my photographer friends calls "pokeys" - things that poke into the image from the outside edge of the frame or into each other inside the image. If you look along the bottom part of your image, you will notice that one of the leaves is poking into the petals of the flower. This may seem like a bit of nit-picking, but these are the kind of "non-compositional" elements that take away from the artistic value of an image.

When you are trying to figure out what kind of colours go with one another, then I would suggest that you look at the colour wheel and how it is used in interior decorating - yes seriously - interior decorating. The reason I say this is that "interior decorating" will show you how different colours work with one another - what works, what doesn't, depending on the effect you are going for. These "combinations" are often referred to as "colour schemes". You can check this site out for some information on how this works - Color Wheel - Better Homes and Gardens - BHG.com . You can buy a small colour wheel at places like Michaels for a few dollars. The reason your green and orange colour scheme works is that they are analogous colours (neighbours) on the colour wheel. A lot of how you will use colour in your photography will obviously depend on the effect you are trying to achieve.

I hope this helps a bit.

WesternGuy

 

[nycphotography]

^ holy wow. Someone is actually giving really well thought out, relevant, helpful C&C. Bravo Sir!

 

[WesternGuy]

^ holy wow. Someone is actually giving really well thought out, relevant, helpful C&C. Bravo Sir!

Thank you. I always remember that there were those who helped me "get things going" so to speak and so I try to give back when I can.

WesternGuy

 

[echoyjeff222]

Very nice. I was writing away and then for some reason IE hung up on me and I have to remember what I was writing as there does not seem to be any backups available .
========================================================
You have an excellent start on your photographic journey here . Thank you for the reference to the flower photography of Jarmila Vymazalov. Flowers are one of my favourite things to shoot and I always like to see how others are doing theirs. You might want to check out the flower photography of Kathleen Clemons as her imagery is also very artistic - Flowers .

I like the original and the first crop. In the second crop, the leaf of the fern is mainly horizontal and so it tends to take the viewer's eye out of the image. In the first two, the leaf acts as a frame and focuses the viewer's eye on the flower. I wouldn't use the water drop as a reason for choosing the first image as it is also a distraction and thus draws the viewer's eye away from the flower. You could, of course, use the water drop as the subject of another image.

If you are going after the "soft" image, then you may want to consider softening the fern leaf as well - just a suggestion.

One other thing that I noticed, almost immediately, was what my photographer friends calls "pokeys" - things that poke into the image from the outside edge of the frame or into each other inside the image. If you look along the bottom part of your image, you will notice that one of the leaves is poking into the petals of the flower. This may seem like a bit of nit-picking, but these are the kind of "non-compositional" elements that take away from the artistic value of an image.

When you are trying to figure out what kind of colours go with one another, then I would suggest that you look at the colour wheel and how it is used in interior decorating - yes seriously - interior decorating. The reason I say this is that "interior decorating" will show you how different colours work with one another - what works, what doesn't, depending on the effect you are going for. These "combinations" are often referred to as "colour schemes". You can check this site out for some information on how this works - Color Wheel - Better Homes and Gardens - BHG.com . You can buy a small colour wheel at places like Michaels for a few dollars. The reason your green and orange colour scheme works is that they are analogous colours (neighbours) on the colour wheel. A lot of how you will use colour in your photography will obviously depend on the effect you are trying to achieve.

I hope this helps a bit.

WesternGuy

Wow, thank you for the really detailed reply! That site on the different type of color schemes will be really useful in all sorts of photography, not just flower photography ...

It doesn't seem as though there can be any "bad" schemes, though, does there? It seems that things can be analogous or complementary, and they just give off different vibes. Or is something like orange and purple "bad" because they're neither quite complementary nor analogous?

That's really cool that the "color analysis" matched up with my feeling when I initially saw this photo and liked it because of its calm/pastel like feel. I think it'll help me out with future post processing directions because I know what kind of feel the colors will point toward.

Excellent link to that photographer! Will use her for inspiration as well. It looks like she uses a lot of textures in PP.

re the poking - so next time, I should move around a little bit more to ensure there's no overlap, got it.

I have been playing around with the background as well, trying to spice it up a little bit. It is a tiny bit too flat for my tastes. I added a gradient to one, a vignette to another, and warmth to another. I also brightened things up a tad.
Here are three that I just made ... I don't know which one I like more, though...

white gradientfinal by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr

vignettefinal by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr
warmthfinal by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr

 

[WesternGuy]

You are very welcome.

You may be right - there may not be any "bad" colour schemes, but a lot depends on the effect/mood you are trying to convey. If orange and purple get you going - not a problem- they may not get others "going" though.

You are right - shoot from different angles/directions. One of the pros I once took a workshop from used to say that when you have a good flower work it for all its worth, which is something I try to do.

You are welcome to check my Flickr page where I have a couple of flower albums from a few years ago, if that would help you. I also have a few entries on my blog regarding flower photography - this is blatant promotion, but maybe they will help you. The first flower article is here - Flowers Galore Inside and Outside Part 1 Basic Stuff Before you start. PhotoWestGuy . Scrolling in the appropriate direction will give you the other three. Ron Bigelow also has three pages on his web site regarding flower photography. The first one is here - How to Photograph Flowers -- Part I . The link to the following one can be found at the end of each page.

To be candid with you on the last three, gradient, vignette and warmth, I really can't see too much difference between the three images. Maybe a bit, but not enough, in my humble opinion, to make any significant, artistic difference. Maybe if you could explain what you mean by trying to "spice" up the background, I might be able to suggest something. Remember though, the background is complementary to the main subject and not the main subject itself. It should not detract from the main subject. If you are looking for contrast, you could try violet or reddish-violet which are across the colour wheel from the yellow/yellow-orange of the flowers. The other thing that you could try is to use a very pale, pastel yellow for the background and see if that gets you to what you are looking for. The other approach would be to "blur" the flower itself just a little bit using a filter (not sure what editing package you have, so don't know what to suggest), or create something like the Orton effect (Google this one) and see if this gets you anywhere.

What you are trying is of interest to me, as I set out to try and take my flowers and place them on a soft, pastel background such as you might find on a post card or a greeting card, not that I am into making those, I am just looking for the aesthetic effect of doing this. I don't want to hijack your thread, but here is one example of what I am trying to do, having just started, I am still experimenting with a lot of aspects of the image, both the background and the flower, so I am looking forward to seeing where you take your work.



WesternGuy

 

[GWWhite]

Very nice. I was writing away and then for some reason IE hung up on me and I have to remember what I was writing as there does not seem to be any backups available .
========================================================
You have an excellent start on your photographic journey here . Thank you for the reference to the flower photography of Jarmila Vymazalov. Flowers are one of my favourite things to shoot and I always like to see how others are doing theirs. You might want to check out the flower photography of Kathleen Clemons as her imagery is also very artistic - Flowers .

I like the original and the first crop. In the second crop, the leaf of the fern is mainly horizontal and so it tends to take the viewer's eye out of the image. In the first two, the leaf acts as a frame and focuses the viewer's eye on the flower. I wouldn't use the water drop as a reason for choosing the first image as it is also a distraction and thus draws the viewer's eye away from the flower. You could, of course, use the water drop as the subject of another image.

If you are going after the "soft" image, then you may want to consider softening the fern leaf as well - just a suggestion.

One other thing that I noticed, almost immediately, was what my photographer friends calls "pokeys" - things that poke into the image from the outside edge of the frame or into each other inside the image. If you look along the bottom part of your image, you will notice that one of the leaves is poking into the petals of the flower. This may seem like a bit of nit-picking, but these are the kind of "non-compositional" elements that take away from the artistic value of an image.

When you are trying to figure out what kind of colours go with one another, then I would suggest that you look at the colour wheel and how it is used in interior decorating - yes seriously - interior decorating. The reason I say this is that "interior decorating" will show you how different colours work with one another - what works, what doesn't, depending on the effect you are going for. These "combinations" are often referred to as "colour schemes". You can check this site out for some information on how this works - Color Wheel - Better Homes and Gardens - BHG.com . You can buy a small colour wheel at places like Michaels for a few dollars. The reason your green and orange colour scheme works is that they are analogous colours (neighbours) on the colour wheel. A lot of how you will use colour in your photography will obviously depend on the effect you are trying to achieve.

I hope this helps a bit.

WesternGuy

That is a GREAT site WesternGuy! Thanks for posting that!

 

[WesternGuy]

edited....

That is a GREAT site WesternGuy! Thanks for posting that!

Thank you, I do hope you found it useful. As I said to nycphotography, I always remember that there were those who helped me "get things going" so to speak and so I try to give back when I can. Flowers being one of my favourite things to photograph, I have been to a few formal workshops on the subject and I spend a lot of time on the practice. I have learned, from others and my own "bad examples", what makes or breaks a good shot and what works for me, or not. So, I try to help when I can.

WesternGuy

 

[echoyjeff222]

You are very welcome.

You may be right - there may not be any "bad" colour schemes, but a lot depends on the effect/mood you are trying to convey. If orange and purple get you going - not a problem- they may not get others "going" though.

You are right - shoot from different angles/directions. One of the pros I once took a workshop from used to say that when you have a good flower work it for all its worth, which is something I try to do.

You are welcome to check my Flickr page where I have a couple of flower albums from a few years ago, if that would help you. I also have a few entries on my blog regarding flower photography - this is blatant promotion, but maybe they will help you. The first flower article is here - Flowers Galore Inside and Outside Part 1 Basic Stuff Before you start. PhotoWestGuy . Scrolling in the appropriate direction will give you the other three. Ron Bigelow also has three pages on his web site regarding flower photography. The first one is here - How to Photograph Flowers -- Part I . The link to the following one can be found at the end of each page.

To be candid with you on the last three, gradient, vignette and warmth, I really can't see too much difference between the three images. Maybe a bit, but not enough, in my humble opinion, to make any significant, artistic difference. Maybe if you could explain what you mean by trying to "spice" up the background, I might be able to suggest something. Remember though, the background is complementary to the main subject and not the main subject itself. It should not detract from the main subject. If you are looking for contrast, you could try violet or reddish-violet which are across the colour wheel from the yellow/yellow-orange of the flowers. The other thing that you could try is to use a very pale, pastel yellow for the background and see if that gets you to what you are looking for. The other approach would be to "blur" the flower itself just a little bit using a filter (not sure what editing package you have, so don't know what to suggest), or create something like the Orton effect (Google this one) and see if this gets you anywhere.

What you are trying is of interest to me, as I set out to try and take my flowers and place them on a soft, pastel background such as you might find on a post card or a greeting card, not that I am into making those, I am just looking for the aesthetic effect of doing this. I don't want to hijack your thread, but here is one example of what I am trying to do, having just started, I am still experimenting with a lot of aspects of the image, both the background and the flower, so I am looking forward to seeing where you take your work.

View attachment 106088

WesternGuy

Okay, here's a more drastic change. I am always hesitant about making big changes, but maybe taking a risk is what is needed to get that really "different" type of photo that I'm trying to achieve.

I added a texture to the background and a gaussian blur to the image except for the middle of the flower - first time I've ever tried this. I'm not sure, it sort of just looks like noise? >.<

I also added a second with overall brightness increases to mimic Kathleen's work ...

with texture 2 by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr

with texture and brightness by Jeffrey Lee, on Flickr

 

[WesternGuy]

I think that you have hit on one of the good things about digital photography and also the one thing that is the most frustrating at times. There are so many ways to process an image that when you are looking for an effect, it can be hard to find, but we keep trying one thing and then another and maybe, just maybe, we find the result we are looking for. The thing is that only you will really know when you have reached that effect. If you are trying to get where Jarmila Vymazalov is, then maybe you are not there - don't know, but I would say probably not - do you care - only you can answer that question, because if you are not happy with your image, then you try something else until you are, OR, you decide that this is not the best image to be doing "this" with (whatever "this" is) and you try another image, or you try another "processing" to see if you can get the effect another way.

Often, that "other way" may lie in how the image was captured, so maybe, just maybe, you will want to spend a bit more time in the actual taking of the image rather than trying to impose an outcome on an image that was never intended for that outcome in the first place. I know about this sort of thing, I do it all the time. I take images in the field and when I get it back to the digital darkroom, I cannot get the effect I was hoping for. That may also be an indicator of my lack of knowledge of my tools as well. I would encourage you not to give up, but pursue the goal that you have in mind. It may take longer than you would like it to, but the feeling when you get there is not reproducible by any other means. I know, I have been there too - that AHA moment!

I will watch for future postings as you pursue your goal.

WesternGuy