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3-D Botany II [DPC legal]
3-D Botany II [DPC legal]
dsidwell


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Botany (Advanced Editing II)
Collection: Macros & Other
Camera: Sony DSC-F707
Location: River Heights, UT
Date: Aug 15, 2004
Aperture: f 8.0
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/15
Galleries: Digital Art, Floral
Date Uploaded: Aug 15, 2004

 This was a lot of fun to work on! Having used a similar technique in the past (see my '3-D Botany'), I thought I'd try again--and get it right this time. I didn't (ha!), but I had a good time anyway. Here are my steps:

1. First, I took a shot of the oak twig and leaves, then did all kinds of things to it in Photoshop to make it look like a painting or drawing and printed it. Hopefully it looks like a page from an old botany catalogue. I like the prop a lot!

2. I then took the same leaves from the earlier shoot, poked holes in the just printed page and inserted the leaves. I took a few hundred shots and finally came up with something I liked. Oddly, I liked the one with the real leaves in the foreground. I orignally planned for them to be way in the back--which would have been easier, I decided, but not as dramatic.

3. I cleaned up the white with the Selective Color tool (I just took the black out of the whites). I did some gaussian blur on the shadows, just to get rid of some of the noise. I also cloned the seam of where the right leaf protrudes from the paper. I did a little selective sharpening around the real leaves, too. I usually work with a large file: in this case, a 16 x 20 at 300 dpi (done with the cropping tool), so I could clean up a bit with the crosshatch filter, then faded it to about 40%. Then I reduced the size to something more normal (8 x 10 @ 300 dpi)--and for the web. After sharpening and some fine tuning with levels, it was finally to my liking.

All photos were taken in my 'studio': on my front porch on a bright day in full shade. As I found out, this was one of the rare occasions when this was not bright enough! I hope you like it!

Statistics
Place: 172 out of 215
Avg (all users): 4.8677
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Votes: 189
Comments: 3
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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-10D
Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon
 08/23/2004 06:11:19 AM
This is certainly more a more daring composition than your 3-D Botany - but that may be why it didn't do as well. The flowers in the original are set up as a traditional botany rpint and viewed in a typical manner, and the 3-D flowers "bloom" out of this composition (very delightful to look at BTW). This composition forces the viewer to be more imaginative - the view is not of a formal picture on a wall, but perhaps a glance at an odd angle of artwork on a table. The composition mirror the viewers surprise - we feel shaken and usure which way is up or down - "are those leaves growing out of the page?!" I wonder if you desaturated the printed leaves leaving the real ones green the viewer would understand more easily? Perhaps having the background a more parchment'like color? You put A LOT of work into this and it shows. When you take the time to look at it and THINK you really enjoy it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7
Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH
08/18/2004 09:32:41 PM
This image appears to be a cut out of a print leaving perspective very distorted. While the shapes have some interest (even with the distortion) the color is drab and leaves lack interesting detail. Lighting is too harsh, especially evident at the top.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM
 08/16/2004 10:46:13 AM
let me guess,
you cut out a picture of leaves,
then took a picture of your picture?
is that allowed?
isn't it considered multiple exposures?
what's the difference between using multiple layers in photoshop?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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