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Digital Photo Manipulation

Enhancing Your Photos

Spring Eye Candy

I took this photo in response to a challenge that Ro Paxman, CEO of Scrap Girls, put out in her blog, Life Muses by Ro.

“Grab your camera and find one thing that makes you smile.

Then upload it somewhere... your blog, Firckr, Picasa Web Album, Photoshop.com ... wherever you prefer. Then give me the link to it in the comments section so that I can see what happy thing you found in your life today.”

Water lilies in bloom always make me smile. I love the sound and look of water, whether in pond, lake, river, sea or even fountain. Water combined with a burst of color sitting on top simply entrances me.

I love to watch the water lily buds form and stand upright on their stalks. Day by day, more of the color appears as the blooms open. Capturing the perfect moment of a perfect blossom in a picture is pure joy.

Because this water lily is a couple of yards in from the edge of the pond in our backyard, I had a hard time getting the shot and wasn’t able to get the entire bloom. So I decided to Photoshop it to create the missing leaf tip – rather than fall in the water! LOL.

Techniques I Used on this Photo

• 1. Layer>Duplicate Layer to create a working copy.
• 2. Turn off visibility (eye icon) of background Layer and work only on Duplicate.
• 3. Image>Adjustments>Levels to brighten the colors a tad.
• 4. Image>Canvas Size to add a strip on the bottom where I can fill in the missing pieces.
• 5. Clone tool to extend the green leaves and water across the blank strip I added.
• 6. Polygonal Marquee tool to outline the tip of an intact leaf.
• 7. Layer>New>Layer via Copy.
• 8. Move tool to move the new leaf segment to the bottom.
• 9. Edit>Transform>Rotate to rotate the new tip into place.

[Note to self: Why do I need a customer deadline or challenge from someone else to allow myself a little pure fun?]

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