Softness+Re-post

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Softness
Softness1189×1600 178 KB

I have been eyeing these remaining flowers, dried and holding on from winter. What caught my eye was that they are all brown and there was a brown brick wall I thought I might want as background (so one color, actually). In this case, I went with some away from the wall because I liked the sun shining in from the right. This is taken with a LensBaby Velvet 85mm. LensBaby is definitely not to everyone’s taste, but I liked the softness and glow here. It gives a gentle look to what could otherwise be harsh lines.

Specific Feedback Requested

Impressions or other feedback welcome.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
I cropped this to vertical and brought it in just a little. I made some minor levels adjustments to lighten the midtones a little and brought up brightness and exposure very, very slightly. I did not make a color change to this or any other edits. I had used daylight white balance and left the color.

I’m not sure I went the right way with this, but I tried to apply some of @Mark_Seaver 's suggestions on darkening the highlights on the right and bringing up the flowers a bit. Is it over the top, or did I focus in the wrong place? I did the flowers jointly, and I’m thinking I maybe should have made separate masks for them. Better, worse, or about the same? :slight_smile:

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_DSC1616-4 11189×1600 191 KB

1 Like
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I’m not generally a lens baby guy, but this is quite nice!

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@Ronald_Murphy Thank you! I haven’t had it long, but I’m hoping to make some unique images with it.

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Karla, this is nicely warm and inviting. There’s enough sharpness so that the two blooms and a few stems stand out, with the overall softness creates a dreamy mood. Since most of the brightest parts are near the edges, I wonder how some burning-in of those coupled with a bit of dodging on the two blooms would look.

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@Mark_Seaver Thanks for the feedback. Are you envisioning evening out the exposure, or shifting the lighter portion to the blooms in focus so that the eye is more drawn there? I’ll play around with it.