Fun Part 2

[imported_ganna]

Just look at the definition of the underwater leaves in GegM's image. Great, that's what I like :)

[ggroess]

Ganna,
How about this....this is by no means the definitive solution to this image...just an interesting and quick solution.

Rather than fight for control of both the flower and the under water stuff you mask out the flower and leaves with a Blue channel mask.  CM allows you to apply a single channel mask without leaving the program.  Just use the mask button, adjust the mask, then switch to the L Cahnnel in lab and have at it.
(mask.jpg)

I also bumped the saturation a bit.
(shot1.jpg)

Lastly I thought the reflection was interesting and wanted it be more blue.  So i adjusted it just a bit.
(Blue-reflection.jpg)

Greg

[imported_BoydMac]

I wanted to eally emphasize the lilly without completley hiding the background.  I suspect that I did not leave enough margin on the high side but I won't have a chance to get back to it for a day or two so I submitt this one.

BoydMac

[ggroess]

now we're playing..I like it...It is good to see some exploration.. and some boundaries pushed...

Greg

[Chris Nicola]

Here is my take. Did it in 2 stages. First moved the rgb curve from the centre a little north west (sorry I don't know how else to describe it).  Just experimenting to see what looks good. Saved and then tweaked like this as shown in  sreen shot which improved the lilly and darkened and improved the water background. I have a question please. How do I save the changes and reset the curves without closing CM?

Kind Regards

Chris Nicola

Guest for the week

[leeharper_admin]

You can't keep me away  ;D

Tried out a correction based on Greg's L channel curve through the inverted Blue channel mask. The first attached curve file is the L curve for the water; I applied that adjustment, then came back and hit the colour (moving the water slightly away from brown and towards green, and bumping the saturation of the lily just a touch).

Of the four versions I've posted I think I like this one the most. I think that this stays truest to what I would have seen, had I been there. My other versions have more going on in the water, but I think in previous versions I put more contrast into the water than someone looking at the flower would have been aware of.

Lee.

[ggroess]

If you want to save the changes without applying them you can click the "save" button at any time and the curve will be written to an ACV file. 
If you click "apply" you can always undo in PS or close without a save.

If you want to build up the changes slowly you can copy the background layer and only use CM on the layer copy.  Then copy that layer and make additional changes.  In Photoshop you can apply CM as a smart filter and still retain the adjust ability for each layer.  It really comes down to how you want to work.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Hi - yes this is a fun image - sorry to be late joining in the fun.

Deciding what to do is the big problem with this image, so I played with levels to see what detail there was around and just loved the roots at the bottom right - reckoned I could bring up the bed and show these roots off. Did not like the out of focus lily pads or the unopen lily, so would sacifice them and concentrate on the rest of the image.

No idea about colour correction, so left it as it was.

My steps were
1 Focus Magic - just 1 pixel
2 CM in Lab mode to set the Hi/Low points and add a bit of saturation
3 CM Lab + B ch filter to bring up the bed
4 Bring out the root detail with Adaptive Equalization (10% opacity)
5 PS curve for a bit of dodge&burn