Harmony

Back to one of favourite subjects, dried climbing hydrangea flowers; this one was taken last autumn in my basement "studio". The reality of my studio is quite different to how it appears in my photos but I don't think I'll go into that or it will ruin the mystique, I will say that dirty windows make great light diffusers!

The processing for this one was very quick, it was one of the rare cases where almost all the textures I initially tried worked. Choosing the right textures for a photo is  a mixture  of trial and error, intuition and luck -sometimes I'll try 10 or even more I come up with a combination that works.

Aquarius @ Overlay 100% desaturated a little to tone down the green
Necropolis @ Soft Light 100% desaturated a little also
Peach Blush@ Soft light 35% to add a little warmth 

Aquarius is from Summer Painterly, Necropolis from Tex Box 1 and Peach Blush from Tex Box 2.

See it on Flickr

Summer Painterly Pack

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$100 for Tex Box One and Two and the Fly Edges

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and  Tex Box Two

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

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HDR Bottle

I came across this antique French Quinine bottle in the dunes, it had arrived on the high spring tides and made a nice change from the other modern plastic rubbish we get! Quinine was extensively used here in my area in the south of France as an everyday treatment for Malaria. We don't have it now as all the sea marshes are annually sprayed with insect killer, since the outlawed DDT arrived in the 1950's pushing the disease south, as far as Africa, where quinine is still used. Its no wonder all the old French houses have formidable wooden and metal wired fly screens, as the illness was quite a problem in the past.

I shot this image behind my closed shutters allowing a dramatic shaft of morning sunlight to fall upon the bottle. I hand-held the camera, normally only using a tripod in the gloomy winter.

I've just started using the new photoshop CS5, with the new CS5 comes an inclusive faux HDR filter. Meaning you can get great HD-like effects from one exposure. Its not shown with the normal filters for some reason, and I only discovered it through watching a promo tutorial. This HD effect really adds life and colour to the darker areas, naturally, HD is to be used with caution, as nobody likes having their eyes burned out! To find this feature, go to the top titles, Image - adjustments - HDR toning.

So, for your information, I'll say; 'duplicated HD layer' when I use this new feature in future recipes..
The next two layers shown were to knock back the HD brightness..

Base image duplicated HD layer - Normal @ 91%
Base image duplicated - Multiply @ 47%
Base image duplicated - Colour @ 37%
Labyrinth - Soft Light @ 21%
Lime Plaster - Soft Light @ 63%
Absinthe Vert - Soft Light @ 42%
Matmos Lake - Soft Light @ 84%
Matmos Lake - Soft Light @ 84%
Aquarius desaturated - Soft Light @ 77%
Aquarius desaturated - Soft Light @ 77%
final texture brushed from bottle

Summer Painterly Pack

36 large textures for only $40

Flypaper Triple Combo Deal
$100 for Tex Box One and Two and the Fly Edges

Combo Pack Offer

Only $65 for Tex Box One and  Tex Box Two

Fly Edges Pack

Only $40

See all our packs and deals on one Page