Spider flowers

[Andrew B.]

Here's my try.

[Pam]

Wow, Andrew...that's fantastically gorgeous! I love those colors. What did you use to do that?!?!

BTW - The image is only loading halfway. Don't know if it's my browser or some other problem. Maybe try loading it again? Please? I want to see the whole thing!

Pam

[Andrew B.]

>I love those colors. What did you use to do that?!?!

The first step was to color adjust the photo. And I found that ColorWasher adjusted the curve very well. Then I simplified with buZZ, and included a contrast layer in the buZZ stack to keep the colors strong.

>The image is only loading halfway.

I just checked it, and I think you might be getting that impression because the image is cropped way down to 668x259. If you are seeing less than that, please let me know.

[Pam]

Andrew, you're right about the size, it loaded just fine

Thank you for the explanation...wonderful colors and forms!

Pam

[bubba]

Andrew - nice touch on the flowers

bubba

[Andrew B.]

Thanks Bubba. I think this one has become my favorite of all I've done.

[bubba]

Pam - I meant to ask earlier but forgot. What did you do to get that beautiful soft summer look?

bubba

[Pam]

Bubba,

There may be an easier way of doing this, but here's how I did it...

Basically, to get the bg look, I first created a channel mask of the flowers with most of the bg foliage painted out with black (so the mask is nothing but the white flowers against a black bg).

Then I created a sketch via the dupe/invert/color dodge/blur method. On top of this I placed the original color image and set the mode to color dodge.

Over this, I opened a Hue/Sat adjustment layer, set the Saturation at -100 and the Lightness at +100.

On top of this (as layer 4) I placed a dupe of the original image and loaded the flower mask. I then highlighted the mask and applied Gaussian blur until I liked the looks of the bg.

On layer 5 I placed another color image dupe and set the mode to saturation. This is when it springs to life

The rest was just using the flower mask on duped originals to bring in some texture to the flowers.


Hope this helps,
Pam

[Andrew B.]

Hi Pam. Thanks for posting the method. I ran through it and can't seem to get it.

Here's what I did.

1. Created the mask with the flower area white and the background black.

2. Copy the background with no mask. Desaturate.

3. Copy the desaturate later above this, invert, color dodge, gaussian blur. Now I have two monochrome layers creating the outline, so I merge them together.

4. Copy original (no mask) above this and set to color dodge.

At this point I'm confused because what I have looks awful. And maybe part of it is I have never understood what is a good level of gaussian and how to evaluate the outline.

5. Add hue/saturation layer set to sat -100 and light +100

At this point everything turns white.

6. put copy of the original above this but with the mask as a layer mask. Blur the mask. This gives me a very nice and soft transition from the flower area into the white that is below it.

7. Over this I put a another copy of the original and set it to saturation. No change because its saturation is no different than what is below it.

So what I end up with is the flowers looking completely photographic and exactly like the original, a pure white background, and a smooth transition between the two.

Can you help me out.

Andrew

[Pam]

Hi Andrew,

I have a bad habit of not documenting the steps I take. I just go with the flow from start to finish. Then when someone asks how I got there, I have to re-trace my very convoluted steps. So I apologize in advance for any frustration my methods cause anyone

I've gone over the steps you took...as long as the last layer (the original dupe, with no mask) is set to saturation, it should work. Just to clarify...here are the layers, from top (5) to bottom (1):


5 - Original dupe, set to saturation mode

4 - Original dupe with flower mask (blur the mask to taste, I think I used about 40-45)

3 - Hue/Sat layer (yes, everything turns white)

2 - Original, set to color dodge (yes, it will look awful at this point, be patient ) Also, on a second working of this, it seems you don't need to set it to color dodge at all, normal will still work. This detail doesn't change the outcome here however.

1 - Sketch layer


I'm thinking the problem might be the blurring of the flower mask on layer 4. The mask should look like 2 gray indistinct blobs. If it's too white, that allows too much of the original image through and it will seem as though there has been no change. Also, here's a tip that works with gradient masks...highlight the mask, then go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Now move the middle slider back and forth and you can adjust the transition of the mask to make it harder or softer. You might want to try that on this layer.

I'm sending you the PSD file so you can take a look at the set-up first hand. Let me know how it goes....

Oooops, I didn't check your e-mail status first. If you'd like the file, just drop me an e-mail


Hope this helps a bit,
Pam

[Andrew B.]

>>I'm thinking the problem might be the blurring of the flower mask on layer 4. The mask should look like 2 gray indistinct blobs. <<

Bingo!

Thanks.

[Peter S]

Tried this with Art history but didn't like it, so went back to an earlier style of mine I did.

Peter

[Steve Conway]

Spider Flowers eh?

We don' see no stinkin' spiders.

Sorry...got carried away.

Here's my attempt at messing with another nice image.

Steve C.

[Swampy]

So many great paintings! Bubba.. great picture!

Spider flowers, huh? Well, spider flowers need a spider flower web don't they?

Acording to Greek myth...Arachne, a woman of Colophon in Lydia, was a skillful weaver who challenged Athena to a contest. Athena destroyed Arachne's work and Arachne tried to hang herself, but Athena changed her into a spider.

[Peter S]

Swampy
Very striking picture and informative commentary,

Peter