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This is my Rose shot where I adjusted the Levels to remove the Background so much it just about jumps out at ya

Well I think it looks alright, what about you ?

hi mic , im not normaly ane for flowers but i like the way the rose come out of the pic 3D like ..
nice pic

I like what you have done.........but maybe a slightly tighter crop so the flower stands out more and to get rid of some background

big pix

Excellent shot Mic. I like how you've just kept those highlights in check without them blowing. Terrific colour as well. I agree with Big Pix, though - a tighter crop would be my preference.

I'm curious - using Levels to take out the background? Was it a very dark background to start with and you just made it darker or is there something else I'm missing here?

Yes, please tell us how you removed the background. Did you use channels? and if so , how.

Fantastic photo though. I agree with the tighter crop too.

You're 13 Monty?!! Gee I wish I had a toy like a D70 when I was that age! You're one lucky dude.

Monty,
Lucky boy you're!, i remebered when I was at your age, the best toy I can afford was, the empty sardine tins which I used as a car drawn by a string with 4 beer's bottle caps as its wheel, and all my guns were bamboo or tree branches which I played combat game with my friends.

Birddog114 wrote:Monty,
Lucky boy you're!, i remebered when I was at your age, the best toy I can afford was, the empty sardine tins which I used as a car drawn by a string with 4 beer's bottle caps as its wheel, and all my guns were bamboo or tree branches which I played combat game with my friends.

There's a snapshot of history, Monty. Society has come a long way. I'm sure you realise how lucky you are to have such luxuries.

O.K. Boys here you go.

I cropped / adjusted levels ( left channel to around half way to the right )
( Right channel a tad to the left )

I also put a cooling filtet on 30% to calm the colour a bit.

Thats it

I have also included original if you want to play with to see what happens when you just adjust the Levels.

Glad you liked.

Mic.

It's funny what you can do with flowers isn't it Mic
I was playing around with a shot that I took of a flower yesterday and just adjusted the hues/saturation/lightness in various channels. I turned a red flower into an orange and purple one with vibrant green folage. Btw, how come you didn't use the extract tool (think it might be a Photshop CS thing, don't remember it pre CS).

Yes Kipper it is,

Some flowers work, some don't.

I'm just getting used to the Extract Tool, but just happen to try this and it looked much better.
I have to work on my Extractions.

Mic.

Yeah I had a quick play around with it yesterday and sort of managed a rough extraction but had some issues around the edge.

Yes, I am finding with Extraction you have to be very carefull with the initial traceing otherwise it can look pretty crappy and fake ( which it is I suppose ) but you know what I mean.

Mic.

Mic ......the re-crop works a treat...... but I also like the soft colour of the original, should try a crop on that as well........good work

big pix

You prolly don't want to hear this, but I like the original the best....

Thanks BP, Yeah, I do too, but I like how the background just dissapeared completely on this one.

Kerry, yes you are right I don't won't to hear that
But Hey, this is what Critiques is all about.

I personally think it's the best flower I've done ( so to speak )

Cheers,

Mic.

OK, I'm going to go a little against the grain here, but I think the reds in the original have been overexposed.

When photographing a scene with primarily red (or blue) the auto exposure will overexpose for that colour. It has something to do with the RGB filter built into the CCD (25% red + 50% green + 25% blue). Accordingly, if you don't want the reds blown out, you must dial in some -ve EV.

If you open the original flower and check the levels in the red channel (Photoshop - Image -> Adjustments -> Channel: Red), you will see what I mean. Alternatively, look directly at the red channel in the Channels palete.

What this all means, is that you really don't have a lot of red information in the rose to play with. Consequently, in the PP'd image, instead of seeing detail of the petals in the centre of the rose, all I see are areas of red with all the detail lost.

Just goes to show how differently everyone sees the same pic, I much prefer the original with softer colouring, maybe that softer (peachy colour?) one with the black background in a portrait orientation?

Cheers.

Mark T, Thanks for your detailed Critique. I'll take your word for it

Thanks mudder Yes it is, just shows you how everybody likes or dislikes an image

I personally like the very 1st without the Crop, I love hte blackness around it.

Each to their own.

Cheers,

Mic.