According to the command history, there are 246 separate edits in this image. Crop, USM, levels. Burn, dodge a lot. Clone out some rubbish and about five aphids. More dodge and burn. Smudge a bit. Re-size. Burn more. Border. Go back and re-do it, adding saturation and removing border. Dabs of softening brush across the psines of the seeds to reduce the glaring effect of the dreaded jaggies.
I have about five of these - been trying to get one into a challenge for a while, and have pulled it last minute. This one (though IMP there a better) stays in.
Presenly feel that I've over-done the red and magenta saturation ... just a touch. There's an edge of unreality to the underside of the 'bulb' also, from dodging and then upping saturation. and I've kept a version with the aphids in - couldn't see them until I uploaded the shot, they're so small. Actually, this image has two legs from one of them visible, about 30 pixels or so below the lowest 'petal', on the stalk.
I like its slight weirdness ... sure sign that it isn't going to be the winner that I currently think it should be :-)
Statistics
Place: 11 out of 205 Avg (all users): 6.6181 Avg (commenters): 8.3200 Avg (participants): 6.5156 Avg (non-participants): 6.8028 Views since voting: 2147 Votes: 199 Comments: 29 Favorites: 0
Congratulations! I thought yours was better than mine, I wanted to take mine down after seeing yours. The seeds are so sharp, and the background so smooth. I like this very much.
Ursula
PS - I'd been wondering all week whose shot this was :))
This reminds me very much of a shot of by franziska lang (as opposed to Franziska Lang) which was done in a duo or tri tone (don't quite get that yet so forgive my tonality). I like this color version very much. The lighting on the seeds and the top of the stem are very good...the bottom of the stem appears blown out a bit but the detail is stunning and I like it very much.
Nice original take on a most common subject. I think I'd crop it square instead of a little off like it is, but everything else looks excellently done.
Exceptional! That black background makes the seeds really sparkle. Your exposure is perfect. I'd like to see it just a tiny bit more diagonal, but that is a very minor point. You stopped down enough to make the entire image sharp as a tack. Overall a very strong contender.
Very nice photo. The detail, composition, and contrast is excellent. I really like the black background and the fragility the shot implies. Nice work ..... 8
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