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Botany Path
Botany Path
giantmike


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Flowers in Garden & Field (Basic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-50D
Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Location: Madison, WI
Date: May 15, 2011
Aperture: 7.1
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/200
Galleries: Landscape, Floral
Date Uploaded: May 15, 2011

 I am guessing there will be a lot of flower close ups. I also took some of those, but was never really all that happy with them. Flower closeups are so overdone that even the macro mode on cameras is normally a flower, and I really wanted something to stand out. Thus, I needed some type of cool bokeh, dramatic lighting, or a more interesting location. Lighting was pretty much out due to overcast skies most of the week (and especially when I had available time). I did get some ok bokeh shots (See //www.flickr.com/photos/giantmike13/5719578113/). But the flowers were never quite prominent enough.

So Sunday I went to the local botanical gardens hoping for more interesting opportunities. Much to my chagrin, the high winds as of late has beat up the flowers and the cold weather has kept bloom under wraps. But, there were some things coming up, so I looked for scenes. To my surprise, I found a couple, including this one that seemed to work out nicely. This would have been a great HDR shot, but being basic I worked to get as good of an exposure as I could (not blowing out the sky too much), and went on my way.

Back home in post processing is where the magic happened. The overcast skies (again) made the lighting less than stellar, so I needed to add some extra pop. Below is how I did that.

I'm curious to see how many DNMC votes/comments I get. Notice that the description says "the topic is Flowers." Then later it says "find the perfect subject...and show us flowers." There is nothing in the description that says flowers need to be the subject :)

Post Processing:
* Chromatic Aberration
* Increase Brightness
* Recovery
* Highlights and Shadows
* Topaz DeNoise
* Topaz Adjust
* Increase Black Point
* Increase contrast
* Increase saturation with lower vibrancy
* Pull up curve a bit
* Increase shadows slightly
* Levels
* Color adjustments
* Export as TIFF
* Resize
* Slight Edge Sharpening
* Save as JPEG

Statistics
Place: 96 out of 220
Avg (all users): 5.5060
Avg (commenters): 7.3750
Avg (participants): 5.2530
Avg (non-participants): 5.7529
Views since voting: 731
Views during voting: 278
Votes: 168
Comments: 9
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Nikon D700
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 05/25/2011 12:08:20 AM
Oh well.....I gave a 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-80D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
 05/24/2011 05:26:43 PM
tremendous feel. love the composition and the muted colors. This is top 3 for me. Nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D700
Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED
 05/23/2011 08:19:38 PM
Looks really romantic! Beautiful! 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
 05/22/2011 10:07:08 PM
Wow! Lovely!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D3100
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR
 05/19/2011 11:23:49 PM
Beautiful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-450D Rebel XSi
Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM
 05/19/2011 10:28:50 AM
Nice use of the flowering tree and bench to frame the shot. Good exposure making the grass a rich green.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D5000
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
 05/19/2011 12:53:42 AM
I'd love to be sitting right there! What a peaceful place!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 05/18/2011 09:34:08 PM
Focus is very soft on this IMO
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-D60
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 05/18/2011 12:19:36 PM
Back to comment... What a lovely place to walk! Love the broken stone path.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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