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Purple Glow

Posted by Barbara Kile (Ft. Worth, United States) on 17 August 2009 in Abstract & Conceptual and Portfolio.

I have photographed textures for over a year now and have just waited for a time to use them. Not having a plethora of lush gardens at my disposal and needing some backgrounds for my indoor flower shots made me wonder if experimenting with the textures would give pleasing results. Anita's lovely work with textures has inspired me to try some! (http://anitabower.aminus3.com/)

This iris is from my archives and is a flower portrait taken in its natural setting outdoors. I overlaid a dark purple texture to experiment, used the 'multiply' blending mode, and the flower kind of 'lit up' and seemed to glow. One could paint on the layer mask at this point to lessen the effect of the texture on the flower itself. I enhanced the lighting by editing with Nik's Viveza and then applied the 'Orton' technique to further enhance the lighting and contrast.

This texture is one by Ground Floor:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/chromaticaberrations/sets/)

I used another texture on this image and I will upload that one next so please give your feedback on which one seems to work the best - although it's entirely subjective, of course.

WELCOME and thanks for visiting!

For anyone interested, my recent work is now on my WEBSITE: http://www.barbarakilephoto.com/

My SPOTLIGHT Images: http://barbarakile.aminus3.com/featured/

'The Art of Flower Photography' is a new Spotlight gallery with images from some of Aminus3's best flower photographers and a tutorial on how to make great flower images:
http://www.aminus3.com/theme/flower-photography-tutorial/

Comments (20)

Chris Pereira from San Jose, CA, United States

It's amazing how much texture is in a flower, or a leaf, something we pass by everyday but rarely take notice of it. Normally when using a background color that is to similar to the subject, it allows the subject to get lost in the background, but here, the background seems to compliment the subject, if not add to it. It gives it that mysterious magical air to it. Great colors and great photo.

17 Aug 2009 5:11am

Anina from Auckland, New Zealand

Oh my! This is great!
Love the texture, lighting and contrast!
Processing is perfect!
I can't wait to see the next one :)

17 Aug 2009 5:33am

Tomas Turecek from Czech Republic

I like this very much, Barbara. At first sight it's very dark but then my eyes start to "wander" upon the image, looking for something to explore, some details in flower, interesting lightning aso. and my eyes stopped on nice details in petals and immediately after that on the lightning which is amazing. If I look at this image as a whole then the high contrast lightning is the thing that interests me most and that pleases me eyes at once. Excellent work!

17 Aug 2009 9:04am

Japanalia from Yokohama, Japan

You managed something very beautiful here, especvially the light and the texture on the petals! An artistic portrait of a flower - this is how I'd call your creation!

17 Aug 2009 10:09am

GJC from Kyoto (京都), Japan

The color is startlingly rich. And I also appreciate that you continue to explore with your images. (and I agree that Anita is a fabulous photographer!)

17 Aug 2009 10:26am

Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal

I love the purple. Marvelous!

17 Aug 2009 11:03am

Marilla from Turku, Finland

It really glows! Fabulous shot of a beautiful flower.

17 Aug 2009 1:01pm

António Pires from Lisbon, Portugal

Beautiful image.

17 Aug 2009 4:56pm

christelle from issoire, France

nice colour. beautiful

17 Aug 2009 5:54pm

Bishop from Houston, United States

Hey cowgirl... love the texture on this one!

17 Aug 2009 6:02pm

Eldiablo from over the rainbow, Monaco

really marvelous !

17 Aug 2009 6:07pm

Jen from St. George, United States

Wow! That's stunning! Great color!

17 Aug 2009 7:01pm

Francesc B. from région parisienne, France

Beautiful work... lovely blend and processing....

17 Aug 2009 7:56pm

Mary from PA, United States

Gorgeous!!! as are all the others in your portfolio :)

18 Aug 2009 2:02am

Marie from FRESNES, France

wouaw, c'est magnifique !

18 Aug 2009 5:28pm

zOOm from Paris, France

Textures are my best friends ! I can see that they are yours too ! -)
Very nice composition.

18 Aug 2009 7:00pm

@zOOm: Yes, I know you're having fun with them too! Keep going!

Thea from Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Wow..very intens,almost mystic light..very,very nice!

19 Aug 2009 1:17am

Lee from Fort Frances Ontario, Canada

Amazing what a little experimenting will produce. Great work Barbara. Well done.

19 Aug 2009 3:15am

Scott Schilling from San Martin, United States

Wonderful work on this and incredible colors!

19 Aug 2009 3:55am

Anita from West Nottingham, United States

Fantastic! Thanks for giving me credit. Kind of you. I've not tried Viveza. I just looked at a demo of it. Looks good, but not cheap. Do you find you use it much?

21 Aug 2009 1:34pm

@Anita: Yes I love the control points so you can brighten or darken any part of the image. Their video tutorials are good too. If you can use Academic Superstore, that helps..... a lot! I use Viveza quite a bit. Thanks for your feedback, Anita!

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