OK...It Sunday...Let's really open this up.

[ggroess]

Everyone,

Please remember to explain a bit more about what you are doing so that any visitors are not scared off by the jargon and short cuts you have developed.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Well this is a pretty fair exposure, but I feel it is back to front - the centre could do with a little more light and perhaps a bit more depth to the petals.  The focus is a little out, but that is to be expected with a macro shot (using a standard lens?).

So using CM's Contrast Pin facility I added detail to the petals and also set the highlight point - so just a Luminosity change.  I did not feel that the colour needed correcting.

Then into CM again to add a baby bit of colour, using the Lab Saturation feature.

Finally adding contrast to the centre (using a mask) using Local Contrast at 50 pixels.

I do each of these steps on their own layers, so that I can change the opacity down to reduce the effect.

I feel the whole image is on the dark side, but adding too much curve will remove the detail in the petals, which I like, so I gave a slight boost in the mid point of the rgb curve - not sure I like it or not!.

Zog

[mikemeister_admin]

A bit over the top,but at least you can see into the crevasses.
I cropped to keep the background flowers as a diagonal,denoised and CS4 shadow/highlight.
I then used the CM correction below.GregM

[mikemeister_admin]

I know that I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I don't understand the class....if this is the class.  Shouldn't a class start out be explaining how to use Curvemeister?  How can we work on an image with Curvemeister when we have no idea how to use it? ???

[mikemeister_admin]

Ah Art, this week is not the class - it is an opener for various people (you can join in as well) to have a bash at different images.

You will find on the course that seeing what others do is almost as important as your own work.

I see from previous postings that you are not a curver - so go show us how you would tackle this image - then compare to other techniques.

All the best for next week, when the real learning starts
Zog

[mikemeister_admin]

Wow GregM - what a colourful image - never seen you adding more colour than I do before!

Am I getting old, or are you getting into colour?

Great to see your work again
Zog

[ggroess]

I know that I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I don't understand the class....if this is the class.  Shouldn't a class start out be explaining how to use Curvemeister?  How can we work on an image with Curvemeister when we have no idea how to use it? ???

Art,
This is the open doors week. the real class materials start next week this is where former students show some image correction skills and you get to take a crack at some of the the things they are showing.  We want you to see some of the things you will be getting into and they want to show you that if they can do it you can too.  I know this might seem a bit odd but we have had great success with this format and all of the postings from this week are moved to the interesting image thread so that all users of the forum can benefit.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Thanks Chris, I must have had a spasm and shifted the saturation slider.Actually I've snapped this type of flower frequently,usually with a fat bumblebee in the scene so I know your rendition of the petal's color is closer to nature but I wanted  to get those needle like parts of the flower to glow yet still keep the grain of the petals visible.GregM