Snowdrops

A couple of snowdrop piccies and a question.
First the piccies:








And now the question. How do I get the white background white without blowing out the snowdrop? Is it a question of exposure, a light on the background or what? Any suggestions welcome.
Otherwise I shal have to invest in another colour background as black looks good but is a bit hard for such lovely delicate flowers.

Hi Gwyn,
lovely pictures
To answer your question, i think it depends. The hard way would be seperate lighting of the backround. It should be further away from the flowers and completly OOF. The quick and easy way could be in PS. Make a seperate layer, up the levels till the point of blowing out the highlights. (95%) and mask off the flower.
I let you see the last way, all i did was putting levels up in PS and masking off the flower. I also converted one to mono, maybe you like that version also. Offcourse i will delete them promtly if you don't want anyone to mess with them. Best intentions only





Hope it helps,
Martin.

Thanks Martin - a real improvement. Not sure I can achieve that with Elements though. I shall have a play later.
I was hoping to photograph them in the garden but there was just too much wind yesterday (plus it was freezing!) so I did the unforgiveable and picked a few.

Hi Gwyn,
In Elements you can't add a layermask, but there is a way arround it.
Duplicate a layer, then open up levels and lighten the complete layer until the backround is the way you want it. Next reduce the opacity till 50% so you can see the underneath layer. Then use the eraser tool with a very soft brush to erase the snowdrop from the duplicate layer. After erasing bring back opacity and merge layers. Instead of using levels you can also use lighten-contrast. The next picture is done with this last technique.


Good luck,
Martin

Lovely shots! I can't help with your question I'm afraid, but it looks as though there are more qualified people here offering advice anyway.

I just wanted to say that my favourite is number 2. Mainly because it shows the real beauty in the detail of the flower. Snowdrops are coming out everywhere at the moment and so many people walk past without realising how beautiful these flowers really are.

Nice work, makes me want to post some of my spring flower shots...

Fiona

Thankyou again Martin. I shall have a go whilst the footie is on later.
I've just been busy installing my new printer A compromise - he who pays the bills wanted an all-in one, I wanted a photo printer. So I went for the HP 5280, which accepts the b/w cartridges. So far I am impressed. I will have to get the b/w cartridge and see how weel it does with that, but the phots I've printed so far are great.

Fiona, thankyou for your kind remarks. I love snowdrops and their hidden beauty.

I look forward to seeing some of your flowers!

I love no.2 also Gwyn, TBH if it was mine I wd be tempted to leave it as it is, I think blowing out the background to white wd make the image seem too shallow, the way it is gives the image depth and draws the eye in to those gorgeous greens.
Envy you the new printer, A3?

cheers Lilly

PS...BTW I do like a good crop, spot on!

Thanks Lilly!
No not an A3, not even one exclusively for photos. But hopefully it will produce great b/w prints. I have ordered the extra cartridge I need as the local shops don't stock it , so I hope to be able to try it out on Tuesday. (We never get post on Mondays.)

Note:
You CAN do layers in Elements

There are two ways. Firstly you can use "Clipping Masks" - I have some tutorials for Elements on my website.
Secondly, there are some free plugins that will add a layer mask. Can't remember the urls right now, but www.hiddenelements.com is a very good place to start

Matt