Winging it

[finished shot on my [url=http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1339712]Kinda Horrigans[/url] journal]

This was a shot taken with my Lensbaby Composer lens with an f/4 aperture ring and +4 macro. The most obvious edit I did this one was to flip it around 90 degrees anticlockwise. There's just something a bit more pleasing about it, probably because cut flowers always stick upwards like that!

The other thing I did once it was rotated, was to use Filter > Distortion > Lens correction to straighten it a little. Originally the stem wasn't quite vertical and although that's not really a problem, there's always a line between 'did she mean it like that or just not spot it wasn't straight', which bugs me - and this one crossed that line.

It's also had a spotlight on it to bring out the detail of the hoverfly. I duplicated the background layer, then used Filter > Render > Lighting effects and chose the omni spotlight. I then set the blend mode to lighten which means that only the bits which are lighter than the background layer have the effect applied - and means you brighten the bits you want brightened. Then, just to control it a little more, I used a layer mask and painted out, using a large black brush set to about 50% opacity, any bits which didn't look quite right.

Two other small finishing adjustments after that - I used a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to bump up the saturation by +10, then flattened... and finally sharpened the edges.

Fairly simple bit of editing to be honest!

Tip of the Day:
If you've ever wondered what the difference was between 'Saturation' and 'Vibrance', then this little article explains them nice an' clearly!