Lesser Butterfly Orchid

[PeteTheBloke]

January 21, 2007 at 6:47 pm

Platanthera bifolia

Photographed in the summer. I seem to have lost a lot of detail while messing about in Photoshop. I may try again.

[jb7]

January 21, 2007 at 9:44 pm

There does appear to be a softness to it,
and a lack of detail-
and there seems to be another species muscling into the foreground,
is there a reason why you didn’t remove it?
I don’t think it adds to the picture-

I know nothing of these things,
whether it might be a species under threat,
but it looks like a subject that would do well in controlled lighting,
and perhaps with a more controlled backround-

I suppose as a subject for a still life in a studio-
which could be a tabletop sized studio,
considering the size of the subject-

Although I could be suggesting wanton death and destruction,
and I wouldn’t want to do that-

j

[PeteTheBloke]

January 22, 2007 at 9:26 am

Thanks Joseph

I don’t think it’s threatened (unless you visit Donegal, maybe) but it’s the only example I’ve ever spotted.

I probably could have moved the grass stalks without “interfering with nature”.
As for the other problems, I probably need to hone my PS skills.
I might have been looking at the background while moving sliders,
hence the ruined highlights i.e. the flowers themselves.

Thanks for looking.

[earthairfire]

January 22, 2007 at 12:53 pm

PeteTheBloke wrote:

I probably need to hone my PS skills.
I might have been looking at the background while moving sliders,
hence the ruined highlights i.e. the flowers themselves.

Suggestion for you: before you do anything in PS, copy your shot to a new layer and work on it there. I always leave my background untouched, and therefore can always go back to where I started, or add a mask in to reveal some of it, if required.

Tim