Suggestions On Processing?

[smoke665]

What did you bring with you?

Camera, 4 lenses, assorted filters, speed light, tripod, other misc accessories, my wife and the assortment of jackets, tablet..........and crap she always wants to bring but never has any way to carry! Also, this particular one had a group of blue haired women that decided they wanted to stand and talk in the exact spot I needed to be for the best light. Earlier edit in PS got close so I may still salvage it, if not there were enough others that came out well enough for the print grouping I wanted without this one.

 

[smoke665]

Ok the efforts inspired me to go back and work on it again. Ran it through a couple of custom actions in PS to soften the petals, and background. Then burned down the background, and worked some more on the petals to get rid of the sparkles. Might be a little to creamy now. Comments.

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

 

[DGMPhotography]

Ok the efforts inspired me to go back and work on it again. Ran it through a couple of custom actions in PS to soften the petals, and background. Then burned down the background, and worked some more on the petals to get rid of the sparkles. Might be a little to creamy now. Comments.

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

Yeah.... don't use this one.

If you have to use this image, just use what you originally posted.

Otherwise, this is one for the bin. Whenever I shoot, I try to bring at least 2 speedlights with me. I think that would have helped a lot here.

Again, just my opinion. Do what you will with it.

If for some reason I HAD to use this image myself, this is maybe what I'd do with it.

 

[Derrel]

This look has a nice, soft, gauzy feel to it...every bit as good as earlier edits!

 

[smoke665]

@Derrel thank you. That's kind of how I remember it, when I first saw it. Had a softness that wasn't reflected in the "out of camera" image. This was a combination of things both in LR and PS. If I decide to keep it, might revisit PS and try a different direction. Depends on how many of the others get culled in the final pick.

. Do what you will with it.

Thanks for the comments, and I plan on it. Unfortunately your edit is very much like the out of camera image that I was trying to get away from.
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[Milk&Cookies]

@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.

Thanks Smoke. As far as your second edit goes, I think that you made it just a bit too creamy, like you said. It looks a bit too soft to me in certain spots, mainly the top back petals. If dialed back just a bit, I think it would be good.

 

[smoke665]

@Milk&Cookies Yes I agree, I took a short cut using the smudge tool to ease the petals. Unfortunately it doesn't have quite the sensitivity that is required here.

 

[Milk&Cookies]

@smoke. I know nothing about PS, as I only have lightroom. But maybe a clarity brush to the areas you want softened in LR would do the trick. You can layer as many as needed to get it how you desire.