[Irma]

I worked with this picture today....





Your advice and critique are very welcome...

[shuttertalk]

Wow, that looks really good on a few different levels! Firstly, the tone and lighting is fantastic. Secondly, the watercolour effect is really nice!

Well done!

[Toad]

I really like the strong key line around the outside of the fruit and basket. The background is also wonderful. Smart Blur and ink outlines?

When I do strong simplification and processing on photos like this, I find that they cannot be enlarged very much without losing quality. If you do not already have a large file of this photo - blow it up to 11x14 @ 300 dpi (or similar high resolution) and see how it looks.

At this resolution and size, it looks great.

[ADK_Jim]

Very nice.

[Wedding Shooter]

Looks just like a drawing/painting - wonderful work.

[aine-caitlin]

This is lovely. I like the tones and the painted quality.

[Irma]

Thanks so much. I am very happy you liked it ...

Jules,
I took the picture with an umbrella and my flash. I tried first with black background. That was the original idea but my black background is so ugly... I will go and buy some cardboards today. I have seen some pictures worked with black background that turn out very beautiful.

Toad,
I worked this time with artistic>paint daubs filter. It simpliflies the colors and detail and sharps the edges. It gave me a pink color in the displace area so I refined with clone tool. Then to give a bit of color in the edges I worked with find edges and the regular treatment desaturate and levels, but this time I worked with threshold too, to have clean lines and no mid tones in the background. The black lines is where I was a bit unsure, since I don't know if they look good that dark or less darker would be better.

When I cropped my picture I didn't set the resolution, and I work with the picture without resizing. Here is what I have in the image size. Should I change it to 300 dpi?




Thanks Jim, Chris, Aine for your comment...

[Toad]

No further cropping needed. I was suggesting that 300 dpi was a minimum nopt a maximum. I think the black key lines look good - thanks for showing your workflow for this technique.

[Irma]

No further cropping needed. I was suggesting that 300 dpi was a minimum nopt a maximum. I think the black key lines look good - thanks for showing your workflow for this technique.

Thank you...

[wulinka]

I like the backdrop and the effect you applied, and the picture seems to have been beautifully lit to begin with.

the only thing I slightly dislike are the strong edged of some of the fruit, can you soften them a bit?

Uli

[Irma]

Thanks Uli....

Yes, I know what you mean. The black line is not even in all fruits. I'll take that into account and correct it in my next try...