I created a simple sky background in Photoshop and displayed it on my 20" WS monitor. I set up a single flower in front of the monitor and lit it with an Alien Bee 400 with 10 degree grid from the left side. I used a small white reflector on the right side.
Canon 20D, 100mm f2.8 Macro lens, Tripod mounted.
POST:
RAW conversion 1 for majority of image (light petals were a little over exposed)
Levels adjustment
Cloned some defects in the flower
Selected all light areas with CNTL-ALT-SHIFT-TILDE.
Overlay of a second raw conversion for the light petals, keeping their detail.
Created a mask from the previous selection, allowing only the light part of the petals to be visible on the second RAW conversion.
Merged layers.
Copied layer, ran FIND EDGES filter (under Stylize menu).
Levels adjustment to increase contrast
Used magic wand to select all white areas and deleted.
Changed layer mode to color burn, opacity to 50%
Merged layers
Rotate
Resize for DPChal (640 x 640)
Ran sharpening action
Tweaked hue for yellow (flower stem to green from yellow green)
Saved optimized for 150k (83 quality)
I imagine there will be lots of flower shots, so this may get lost in the crowd and not do well. I think it is a great image, though, and I hope you enjoy it!
JD
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Since all my photo equipment was stolen and I am camera-less, I will spend time now voting...
Interest - 2
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Technical Merit - 3
Personal Bias - 2
TOTAL - 10
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