I was out the other day during a short break in the rain to take photos of my neighbors flowering dogwood tree. Those photos were what I thought of when I saw this week’s photo challenge was ephemeral. I find this tree’s blossoms beautiful, but they are so fleeting. They are one of the first things that bloom in this area and because the weather is very unstable, the blossoms often get damaged within a few days. Here is one of my processed images:
You will notice that the shutter speed is pretty fast. It had to be to deal with the wind. Luckily there was enough overcast light to handle that sort of speed.
I will put the original photo below, but when I went to process the image I knew that I wanted my final image to look quite a bit different than the original. Within Photoshop I opened the image in Camera Raw and desaturated it into a black and white. Then I used an adjustment brush and a very light yellow color to paint over the bloom. Then I opened the image in Photoshop and cropped it a bit. I created a layer and added blur. Then I added a mask and painted back the detail in the bloom. I then added a bit of noise to the whole image. Here is what the beginning image looked like:
With these edits, I created an image that I think reflects the fleeting beauty of spring. Do you think it works? Do you have a favorite spring tree? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Cheers!
Beautiful interpretation of the theme!
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Thanks!
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So beautiful!
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Thank you Amy 🙂
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Beautiful edits 🙂
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I’m glad you like them 🙂
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Definitely do 🙂
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Every flower is only there for a short time, so definitely ephemeral and a thing of wonderous beauty. Nice shots 🙂
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Thank you, I love looking at the tree.
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Your final image is really gorgeous, Amy. 🙂
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Thanks!
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Looks good!
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Thank you!
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I really love your edits.
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I’m glad you enjoyed them, thanks for dropping by.
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When I looked at the finished photo, I didn’t think for a second you processed it. Very seamless, very good work. I think the final photo captured the transition from winter to spring perfectly. Cold, but with a touch of freshness in the air. I get the opposite feeling in the original photo – spring to winter. But that’s just me. Hope it’s warming up where you are 🙂
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Thanks for your interesting comment, it would be spring to winter for you of course. The weather is struggling to get out of winter here, there was a touch of snow yesterday even.
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Lovely. Ephemeral, indeed.
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Thanks!
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Beautiful photo, and beautiful edit. 🙂
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Thank you!
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A perfect take on the challenge. I always appreciate the before and after shots!
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Thanks!
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Gorgeous capture and processing. I think it works beautifully.
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I’m glad you like it 🙂
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Works beautifully! Nicely done PJB!!
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Thanks!
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I think it works and this was a fresh take on the challenge – I also found that I noticed more in the edited picture when you explained what you did – funny how looking longer and going back you see so much of what was missed initially. For example, in the edited pic – the stem/branch did not even show up to my view when I looked – but now that is my favorite part and it is what I see as it anchors the softness –
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It is funny how an explanation can change the whole way you are looking at a photo.
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it really is true – and you know I was just thinking of your blog earlier this week – I was shopping and saw all this orange tops – and you know that that comment about the orange shirt and what my son said – well I feel like I said that to you (or someone else) a long time ago with a different orange challenge – either that or is was deja vu! lol
hope your week is going well – spring is in the air down here in RVA ❤
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Yup, that was me you were having the orange shirt conversation with. Take care 🙂
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well I guess the ol’ noggin is still fresh but it might take a while – hah! oh and Happy Easter
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Lovely photos.
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Thanks!
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I like both Amy Lol .. always feel like I’m sitting on the fence …
The edit is very subtle and suits the flower you’ve chosen .. nice work !
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Thanks, and I don’t mind you sitting on the fence 🙂
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Well done, nice photos indeed.
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Thanks very much 🙂
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Beautiful photo. I like the way you explain your thought process and edit work. It helps really. Thanks 🙂
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Great, I’m glad that you find it helpful.
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🙂 🙂
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I prefer the post-processed image. It looks amazing ! I’ve never used a brush in photoshop.
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Thanks, in this case using the brush was a pretty straight forward way to get the results I wanted.
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