[pixbyjnjphotos]

I took a picture of this, what I think is beautiful, gladiolas by my front porch. Got the idea for the new background from a friend whom I told that I took this image at the golden hour. My friend suggested a setting sun and here it is. There is considerable re-work on the porch rail. As you should be able to ascertain, the flowers are pretty much as taken. All work was accomplished with Paintshop Pro X6 Ultimate. I finished it off with a very slight vignette and blur around the edges. Am posting the original as well as the finished project image. Is it over done?? What can I do to improve the image?? All comments and criticism are welcome. I can take the heat. Have a GREAT DAY!
Original Picture
   
Finished Image
   

[EdMak]

Well edited, how long did it take you, why did you cut the top of the flower off? Ed.

[pixbyjnjphotos]

Well edited, how long did it take you, why did you cut the top of the flower off? Ed.

Several hours. After your comment I guess I should have removed the top bud as well and then it wouldn't look as flunky with it cut off. It was originally above the porch rail and the whole picture would have looked bad with more area above the rail. Thanks for looking and your comment.

[Jeffbridge]

Both good ones...I like #2 though....

[Sirlarek]

I took a picture of this, what I think is beautiful, gladiolas by my front porch. Got the idea for the new background from a friend whom I told that I took this image at the golden hour....I can take the heat. Have a GREAT DAY!
Original Picture

Finished Image

[Sirlarek]

pixby...I like glads too.

a thought, for future attempts with compositing images like you have done here...the glads have a very narrow depth of field so that the porch rail is already starting to defocus or appear soft...so the sunset which has a very deep focus to the image causes the eye to catch the subtle difference. One thing to do with this image would be to soften the sunset in the back ground or...and I mean or...you could try taking a picture next time of the flowers using a deeper depth of field so that it more nearly matches a distant subject matter. That would require shooting both images with the same f/11 or 16 to get them to match more closely. Nice work though!