REDISCOVERING MYSELF THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The last of the peonies

Peonies never seem to last long enough...maybe because they are so unattractive when the flowers are spent.  When several plants are close together, as in one of my flower beds, a late bloom will appear.  Such was the case with Coral Charm, the earliest of the doubles.  When everything else looked horribly bedraggled, here was a small bloom tucked down in the floppy foliage of the plant.    I've added three layers of Bonnie's (Pixel Dust Photo Art) "Old Ornate Linen" texture to the image, primarily to mask the distracting background.  I also de-saturated the image slightly.


Here's a different take on the same photo: PDPA's "Cherish" with Soft Light blending mode 


9 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

pretty dusty pink.

Ashley Sisk said...

Beautiful work - I love the texture.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Such a beautiful flower and photograph Evelyn.

Just my opinion, but I think the texture is a bit too harsh and grungy for such a lovely, pristine bloom. (I can say that because it is my texture creation!) :)

I wonder if you used a Gaussian Blur at about 46% to the original photo and then use a Layer Mask to liberate the bloom from the blur ... That would perhaps help get rid of the background you don't want. Suggestion submitted with respect. :)

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Oooooh - personally I like what you have done with the Cherish texture the best. It marries beautifully with the flower!

BTW - thank you so much for using my textures and providing a link!

Lesley said...

What a beautiful peony- i planted one this spring but it hasn't flowered. Maybe I'll have to wait till next year.
I like your texture work on the image, especially the second!

Gail Dixon said...

I agree with Bonnie: the Cherish texture is most pleasing to me. Wonderful work, Evelyn!

Anonymous said...

Very nice textures, for sure, but I can't pick a fave... they both beauties! =)

Lisa Gordon said...

I have never seen a peony with such a gorgeous color!
I immediately thought of strawberry ice cream when I first saw these.
Really, really beautiful Evelyn.

Rosie Grey said...

How beautiful - that colour is really gorgeous! I'm so glad you shared this as I love peonies so much and they are long gone here!