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Vase with Dahlias
Vase with Dahlias
banmorn


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Impressionism II (Advanced Editing V*)
Camera: Nikon D70s
Lens: Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG for Nikon
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Date: Sep 6, 2007
Aperture: f/ 22
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/10 sec.
Galleries: Floral, Photo-Impressionism
Date Uploaded: Sep 6, 2007

 After Van Gogh. That is what I was going for. I think I was only moderately successful. The brush strucks are not so Van Gogh. They were achieved in the shooting, f/ 22 at 1/10 second with angled left top to bottom right movement of the camera.The strokes were accentuated in processing by a good healthy dose of USM.

I shot this twice and processed two versions of an image with just the flowers. Ending up shooting the second time to get the vase in the shot without it being at the absolute bottom of the frame. Aiding the brush stokes for the Dahlias was there less than pristine condition. I bought them last Saturday. I think if they were bright and healthy I might not have gotten as good a stroke effect. The background is a piece of hand painted paper from Thailand that I bought in art store in town. It is the back of the paper as the front has great globs of golden paint all over it along with a lot of black swirls. Very distracting. The back is just color and works well for impressionism, I think. Hope you do as well.

Post: Convert from raw in PSElements 3.0 with a +1.0 exposure compensation. The dust at F/22 is revelatory, so I worked that out first mainly with the healing brush and some cloning. Two crops, up from the bottom and then in from the right to compensate. Layer adjustments for levels, brightness/contrast and hue/saturation. Layer of curves adjustment. Toyed with several blending modes but ended up with normal. NeatImage. Dodge and burned areas of the background. Also some minor cloning to lose a crease in the paper. More dust eradication. USM: 70%, 10 pixels, 0 threshold. Another layer of hue/saturation to desaturate slightly. I reviewed some of Van Gogh's paintings and so that he really filled the frame with his subject so I cropped again. Also added back the saturation. Resize. Sharpen.

Statistics
Place: 113 out of 206
Avg (all users): 5.1286
Avg (commenters): 6.0000
Avg (participants): 5.0000
Avg (non-participants): 5.3103
Views since voting: 770
Views during voting: 237
Votes: 140
Comments: 6
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
09/10/2007 08:44:44 AM
I think that your interpretation of impressionism is nice. I like the colors. I think I would have liked more to it...another component in the image...maybe, a table. Just a thought.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/09/2007 06:22:12 AM
Traditional subject matter. Composition too much to one side
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/08/2007 08:31:16 PM
Nice idea and well executed. 7.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/08/2007 01:47:45 PM
Just a tad too much movement! The background is amazing, is it painted or, what is it? I know everyone is scared to center an object these days but I would like this a bit more centered as well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/07/2007 10:07:45 PM
Definitely gives impressionistic, maybe a bit overboard, but not badd. I like the background contrast against the color of the flowers.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/07/2007 12:50:52 PM
nicely done; would like a bit more light at the stem/vase interface, bg is perfect!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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