vikinguy wrote:
Just for fun I was thinking of entering a picture in the ametuer category of an "art contest" at my place of employment. I've narrowed it down to four shots and would love to hear your opinions. I couldn't care less about the prize money, but it would be cool to have some of my work displayed in the hospital. Thanks for any comments or opinions!
Since I have entered many competitions and won 22 times I thought I might be able to give you some ideas.
I don't know if your art contest allows for a creative category where you digitally manipulate the image..But, if it does here is what I would do.
Since you allowed download I did that first. I tried to look at the pieces as if I were trying to buy a particular piece of art work that would be a stand out piece in a room.
The images were not very sharp..so I worked on them as if an artist never intended for them to be sharp but intended them to be almost impressionist..where you get the idea of what the image is without having to see every detail.
On that note, I cropped tight..just went to what I thought the heart of the photo was supposed to be. I played with the shadows and contrast to bring up as much sharpness as I could..On the Hibiscus I rotated the image to get it where I wanted in the frame and then recropped. I also did the same thing for the water lily. The bee on flower was pretty well cropped as it was..I just tightened up a bit.
I used a dry brush filter on the Hibiscus and then dodged and burned some of the hot spots out. Notice the Hibiscus does not take up the whole frame..but is off set. More pleasing composition I think..You don't always need the whole flower..just those parts that stand out.
On the Bee I just brought up detail, cropped tight, sharpened it up a bit and then added poster edges.
The water lily I thought needed to be the main focal point of the photo...the pads were incidental and did nothing to highlight the Lily..because the image was small in pixels I resized it larger..of course losing whatever sharpness it had. I then cropped very tight and rotated it into the position I wanted it in the frame. I added a pencil sketch filter.
Hope you like the results..not sure they qualify for the contest..but they are artsy now.
Flowers are not that easy to photograph...try to soft morning light or the late afternoon light..take a number of shots..sometimes focusing on the outer edges...and sometimes on the detail on the inside. Take different angles also...you can try picking the flower and putting it into a very small container..like a cup so it covers the cup...you can then use a window to light it..turn off the flash on your camera it gives you hot spots...