Suggestions On Processing?

[smoke665]

I'm processing a series of Orchid photos that I took last week to print for a wall display of multiple 8x10's. I got to this one and I'm undecided. The sharpness is such that it's picking up every detail of the petals, and specular highlights. I've softened the petals some already in LR, but I'm thinking it needs more, maybe a softening mask in PS. Any comments or suggestions for improvement?

Florida-126-Edit.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

 

[Rick50]

I did several things in Lightroom so it might be hard to help. I used the Basic, HSL, and Split Toning panels primarily. The Basic panel did the flower itself: - 0.24 exposure, -57 highlights, +26 shadows, +36 whites, -21 blacks, -14 clarity, +14 vibrance, +2 saturation.
The HSL panel really helps to pull that background down.
Anyway, this is what I got: It might need more playing as I went pretty fast.

 

[smoke665]

Thanks @Rick50 I'll go back and look at that. My main concern was not so much the background as the petals on the Orchid. The other shots all have a more "creamy" look to the petals. This was the only one that came out like this, a result of the lighting I suspect. Didn't catch it at the time.

 

[jcdeboever]

I don't use your software but I like what Rick did.

 

[Rick50]

Thanks @Rick50 I'll go back and look at that. My main concern was not so much the background as the petals on the Orchid. The other shots all have a more "creamy" look to the petals. This was the only one that came out like this, a result of the lighting I suspect. Didn't catch it at the time.

Try the clarity slider. I may not have pulled it to the left enough.

 

[smoke665]

@Rick50 used that and also applied the skin softening brush to the petals. Not perfect, but as close as I can get it I think. Moving on with the rest of the series. Thanks for the guidance.

 

[Derrel]

I like the direction Rick50 took the original image!

 

[Light Guru]

Honestly my biggest suggestion has nothing to do with processing. The biggest issue i see in the image is the lighting. you have fairly harsh lighting causing some distracting shadows.

When it comes to photographing flowers lighting is EVERYTHING!

 

[greybeard]

My edits:
Using Lightroom, I changed the color balance to a milder yellow, using the healing tool, I healed the blemishes I thought were distracting. Using the graduated filter tool, I dragged from the right edge to about center and then dialed down the exposure to direct the attention to the flower on the left which, in my opinion, is the subject of the picture. In Photoshop, I adjusted the levels which added some sparkle to some of the pedals and last back in Lightroom, I added some clarity.

Hope you like it.

yellow orchid_ by https://www.flickr.com/photos/73917093@N06/, on Flickr

 

[smoke665]

@Light Guru I think I already stated that lighting was the issue. When you're packing gear over 175 acres of gardens you have to limit the equipment (or at least I do). Unfortunately that can create problems.

@greybeard thank you for taking a stab at it. I put it away for awhile, and plan to come back to it. The "sparkles"on the petals is actually what I was trying to get away from. Rick in an earlier try succeeded some but still not the creamy yellow I was looking for. When I go back to it I have a couple of custom softening actions in PS that I want to try. I do like isolating the left bloom with a graduated filter, though I might also try a radial as well. Again thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Milk&Cookies]

I'm an absolute LR novice, but I took a stab at it:

Florida-126-Edit by ..Milk, on Flickr

 

[smoke665]

@Milk&Cookies Hey, for novice you actually did pretty well. You've gotten closer to creamy texture on the petals I was looking for. Guess I need to pull this one back up again.

 

[DGMPhotography]

As the risk of sounding harsh... I wanna say that this should be re-shot. You can certainly improve it in post with some selective blurring, lighting, etc, but I think that your composition could be a lot better (maybe lower and to the right) and your depth of field could be shallower, and the lighting (as others have mentioned) is way too harsh and I think these could stand to have an extra light or two.

 

[smoke665]

I wanna say that this should be re-shot

That's not likely to happen unless I want to drive 1500 miles round trip. This was only one of about 24 images that I whittled down to on the Orchids. Plenty of other choices and I only need 3 or 4, so I'm not that concerned with it if I can't fix it post.

the lighting (as others have mentioned) is way too harsh and I think these could stand to have an extra light or two.

Yup, already discussed that fact. Problem is these were located in the middle of 170 acres of gardens, and a long way from the parking areas. I would have loved to have lights, stands, refelctors, the whole works, but there's only so much I can carry, and the gardens had limitations both on what could be brought in and on what is allowed to be set up.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I wanna say that this should be re-shot

That's not likely to happen unless I want to drive 1500 miles round trip. This was only one of about 24 images that I whittled down to on the Orchids. Plenty of other choices and I only need 3 or 4, so I'm not that concerned with it if I can't fix it post.

the lighting (as others have mentioned) is way too harsh and I think these could stand to have an extra light or two.

Yup, already discussed that fact. Problem is these were located in the middle of 170 acres of gardens, and a long way from the parking areas. I would have loved to have lights, stands, refelctors, the whole works, but there's only so much I can carry, and the gardens had limitations both on what could be brought in and on what is allowed to be set up.

What did you bring with you?