Gallery

Friday! It’s About Time!

Yipikaye!!! It’s Friday. This week sucked more than usual, with constant downpour. I am probably the least depressing person in the whole world, but right now I can hardly wait for my workday/week to be over, so I can go home and take cover under my favorite red blanket. So, 90 minutes and counting!!!

Friday is also a day for AfterBeforeForum, hosted by the fabulous Stacy Fischer on her blog Visual Venturing. Here is my after/before image, for other more fabulous entries hop on the crazy train and check them all on Stacy’s blog.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnother gentle touch…The most important part in this week’s entry was cropping. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to make drastic changes to an image to get good results. I wanted to achieve an intimate, soft composition and I managed to do that by making a slight adjustment, bringing that first flower closer to the viewer and reducing all that visual noise in the background. By increasing shadows and contrast I got that soft, warm atmosphere.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThat’s it folks! Have a fabulous weekend! (I don’t know what’s with all this fabulousness in my post today 😀 )

Revisited:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After few of my fellow participants commented on my post-processing, I went back and played some more with the image. The main complain was that the shadows were overwhelming and that a lighter image would add more delicacy to the rose. I guess it is a personal preference, I do like darker images. But they were right, the shadows were to heavy. I still believe this image would be too dark for them, but that’s a matter of taste. If all of us prcessed the same image, I suspect we would get completely different results.

21 thoughts on “Friday! It’s About Time!”

  3. Emilio Pasquale says:

    Great job, Lore. “… you don’t have to make drastic changes to an image to get good results.” That’s something I’m learning as I get criticism from my wife as well as others. Though people are usually polite, I have received some vehement negative comments about my heavy handedness at times.

    Like

    Reply

    • I wouldn’t worry too much…Experiment as much as you like, every try will lead you somewhere new. And although oppinions matter to us, especially from the people that are close, you can’t shape your work and style by other’s comments. Personally, I like your work, it is very artistic and you have a recognizable style. Maybe sometimes you push too far, but that’s the nature of learning.

      Like

      Reply
      • Emilio Pasquale says:

        Thank you for such a nice response. I recognize now where I’ve pushed too far and I intend on revisiting the processing on a few of my shots.

        Like

  5. Good job. Always good to remember that many times a few simple things can make a big difference. The After version is a significant improvement. I kind of agree with Ben about the strength of the vignette, but it may also be my display monitor.

    Like

    Reply
  6. Pingback: After-Before Friday Week 17 | Visual Venturing

  7. Wow, Loré, thanks for your high praise, though I’m not sure why I deserve it 🙂

    There’s something about a yellow flower that I just love, especially yellow roses! You know I’m an advocate for using cropping to achieve a better, stronger composition, and I think your choice is spot on. I also agree with your decision to draw focus to the main rose by trying to highlight it. Like Ben and Robin commented, though, the strength of the shadows is a bit heavy; the effect, for me, takes away from the delicacy of the beautiful rose. Understandably this is personal preference and, as Robin noted, it’s difficult to know what each of us sees on his or her monitor. But it would be fun to see the image with shadows that are opened up more, just to see the effect. If I had this in Lightroom, to achieve the result you wanted but with a gentler touch, I would have used an inverted radial filter (because the rose is off center) to darken the area around it and used a good deal of feathering. Anyway, just food for thought. Hope you’re okay with what I’ve said.

    Like

    Reply

    • I am more than okay, I like to receive the feedback. And since Ben, Robin and you pointed out the same problem, I went back and played some more with the image. You are all absoultely right, it does look quite different.
      That gave me an idea – it would be interesting to see what all of us would do with the same image. I believe we would get fun diversity.
      Thank you for your detailed comment. I must admit I lost you when you started talking about inverted radial filter and all that stuff. I’m a simple gal. 😀

      Like

      Reply

      • Glad you were okay with the feedback, Loré! I have learned the most when I get comments that suggest a different way to handle something (usually from Jaime, and I am so appreciative!).

        What a great idea about the same image! I think I will send a group email out to everyone about your idea and asking for suggestions of photos. Does that sound okay?

        Yeah, sorry for the inverted filter comment. I realized after I sent it that I should have talked in more general terms than in Lightroom terms 😉

        Like

  8. Love the top shot – just beautiful. Hope you had a good weekend with your red blanket away and well away from work – sounds like you needed it!

    I just wanted to show my appreciation for your blog and let you know that I have nominated you for the Liebster Award: http://readsbyredriverbanks.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/liebster-awards-and-feeling-happy-on-a-monday/ .

    You may have been nominated before, or perhaps it is not your thing, but if you’d like to accept the award I would be thrilled. Happy Monday!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment