PHOE's Cleo
photoshop and begonias
valida
soli-mutata
B. 'Hocking Tutu Terror'
B. rajah in bloom
B. 'Red Bluff' (from Ades&Gish) on the left and B. 'Freddie' on the right.
To me they look the same.
Great pics Butch.
fabulous pics..and cultivars
Thanks for looking. Here is a composite I did earlier today - the backside of B. 'Tangalooma' on a cloudy sky picture.
B. rajah is a beauty! Do you grow it in a terrarium?
Do you have the beginner's version of photoshop or do you have the advanced one? Those pics are sooooo perfect.
thanks
gail
Love that one. I'm partial to the burgundy/chestnut and green leaved Begonia's.
The clouds are just a bonus. lol
Cicada, I have it in my 120 gallon aquarium with the episcia you sent me (it has almost taken over the entire tank).
Gessie, it is just Photoshop Elements. Still learning some of the tricks. I bought a book by Rick Sammon and he shows tips for taking photos and using Elements. I thought sure he would've had the full blown version. He does mention a couple of add-ins though.
Jackie, here are the two pictures that I got the composite from. Not a great composite but just playing.
I either want a new camera or/and photoshop.
It is really an impressive setup for photos.
I would go with photo editing software first if you already have a decent camera. It is a very inexpensive way to enhance your photos. Of course you still have to compose the photo and make sure the exposure is somewhat correct.
The cloud picture was taken with my compact Canon - easy and fun to use and very small. The picture of the begonia was with my big Canon DSLR which is heavy, expensive, somewhat awkward but is fast and has lots of control. Photoshop Elements actually came with the Canon DSLR so it is a generation or two old and can be frustrating at times (some things just don't seem intuitive) but lets you spice up pictures if need be. The pros have been using darkroom techniques for years and now we can too with the digital darkroom.
I darkened the trees a bit in this picture from earlier this week with my small compact.
Let me ask you this please. One daughter has the new Nikon something 40 and the other daughter has the big heavy much more expensive one. The first daughter said she paid only 600.00 for hers.
The camera I have now has all these different things on it but I just set it on auto. With that being the case and me not wanting to learn how to use the good cameras (this isn't bad......it is a Konica Minolta Dimage Z5......) It takes good pictures on auto
Since I don't want to learn how to use the camera with all the different parts, would it do any good for me to even bother with software photo program like you have??????
There is nothing wrong with auto but sometimes it produces images we don't like so we have to go to a mode with the controls we know will give us the image we are after. Some of the things I like about being in the "creative zones" is setting the focus point, ISO, and controlling the flash (turning it off for example).
If you don't already have some basic editing software then I would spring for it over buying another camera. It sounds like you already have a nice camera and it seems like some kind of software would've come with the camera. Photoshop Elements can be bought for less than $100 which is probably all you really need.
All the pros use some kind of photo editor (Photoshop being the most popular by most accounts) and now we can too. Salvage poorly exposed pictures to a point (blown details cannot be rescued). Blurry pictures are not worth saving unless that is the effect you want. Bring out details in the shadows, tone down bright spots, add contrast, saturate colors, turn color into black and white or sepia, add borders, and maybe sharpen your images a bit are just some of the basic stuff you might want to do.
Most cameras already have some pre-editing software in them. For example my compact camera has a "vivid" setting in it and it does look brighter than some of the other settings. My wife's Sony does an excellent job of color but sometimes seems a little artificial (almost a plastic look at times). It really comes down to what we want to see before we print, post, or email our pictures so photo editing to the rescue.
Here is an example of a picture I enhanced. The top is the original which I deliberately underexposed so I could save the details in the sky. With Photoshop Elements, I "dodged" the shadows in the bottom part of the picture so now I can actually see the details in the train (if I blew it up you would see Grand Canyon on the train) and shrubs. I also added a bit of contrast and saturated the colors a little bit too.
Photoshop Elements is my Christmas present to me! Thanks so much! I just got an education in photos.
I thought these new leaves of B. nelumbiifolia were kind of neat with the red veins. The border and lettering have the same color.
Smarty pants! That looks great....showing envy on my part!
How about B. scapigera in moonlight?
Butch, scapigera is very nice but I love the way nelumbifolia looks with
its matching red border.
i can tell you are having fun with your 'new toy'!
Thanks Jackie. I guess the nelumbiifolia is more natural.
Gessie, I've had this toy for a couple of years but just really started exploring some of the power of it recently (it helps to have a good book for inspiration).
Here is another one against the same moonlit sky. Curly Beefsteak. I just did one of my youngest granddaughter against a rex leaf - really faky but you see some pictures of portraits inside a rose so I thought....
I am so jealous, hcmcdole...
My sister in law took two courses at our local college just on learning to use her good camera. Then she got a good photo program and she can take such awesome photos. You are motivating me (not to take a course in college) just to learn how to use my own camera and then get photoshop element.
Two years ago they wanted 400.00 for the elementary photoshop and 800.00 for the professional one . Isn't it amazing how the costs come down rapidly on software.........
Butch, I love the red and blue togather, striking.
Gessie, If you can afford to take classes then it probably would speed up the learning curve. You can also learn by yourself by getting some books and seeing what others are doing. Electronics have really come down in price including software to an extent. Now if houses and cars would do the same.
Jackie, even though the reality is faky, it does lend a little bit of punch to the plants. How about B. 'Green Dreams' with our youngest grandchild in it? I need to try her in a rose next.
That child is precious!!!!!!!!!!! Forget the blooms this time.......
She is a cutie. She was actually aiming her brother's Nerf shotgun at me but I had to cut all the clutter out to paste her on top of that begonia.
A beautiful little girl Butch.
She is a tiny thing but it doesn't slow her down.
I pulled B. rajah out of my big tank yesterday to take its picture just for you Jackie. I lost mine from last year but bought another one from Logees months ago. It is still in its little 2.5 inch pot but is blooming away.
This message was edited Dec 7, 2007 3:14 PM
Butch, rajah is a beauty. Love the bold, pebbled leaves.
Merry Christmas everybody.
how cool! Merry Christmas to you!
Butch, that is a gorgeous photograph. Perfect greeting for our forum. Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and all our fellow begonia lovers.
Cindy
Butch, An absolutely amazing photo!!!
Merry Christmas to all.
Jackie
I know yours are beautiful but I have to share my begonia toledanas from seed, Butch. Only did I get six from all the seeds *lol*
Happy New Year, Butch!! I just saw this thread. What fun. So how is Photoshop when you take a tree with all the leaves and little holes that show the background thru and put a new background in? With Paint Shop Pro I could never get the little holes colored right. Took forever too.
I have been known to fix a plant or 2. Though when I want a sky background, and the plant is small I just hold it up. LOL
Hey Kell,
We made it to another year! Yay!
Is your picture a composite or held up against the sky? Either way, I like it!
All the little holes could be a problem but if they are tiny enough, then they may not show too much to the point of distraction. You can always darken and/or blur areas that are objectionable or clone bad areas. If you have lots of time on your hand you could zoom in to each little hole and put whatever you want there but that is too time-consuming for me (unless somebody is paying me to do this).
