Denise McKay
October 2026 - Mexican Tulip Poppy
Original
About the Image(s)
I was happy to discover this flower in the Arid House at our local botanical garden. The house is lit from natural light coming in large windows along the sides and a glass ceiling. Taken handheld with my 70-200mm macro lens at 200mm, f8, ISO 400, 1/400 sec.
After cropping in Lightroom Classic I removed a few spots and distractions, then used masks to darken and desaturate the greens in the background, brighten the flower, then increased texture, clarity, and contrast. I also added a slight vignette. In Photoshop I added a stroke around the edges.
I left some of the leaves in the background so I'm curious to see if others feel they enhance the image or detract from it.
9 comments posted
A beautiful capture of a tulip poppy. I like the contrasts depicted here - the contrast between the soft petals and the sharp stamen and pistils and between the bright, yellow petals and the dark, green leaves in the background. In this image, I prefer seeing the leaves. It works well when the subject is simple without a lot of details. Posted: 10/02/2026 12:52:11
Thanks for your feedback David! Posted: 10/05/2026 13:37:15
I think this is a lovely, soft image with painterly feel. I really like the color combination of the orange, yellow and green. As a suggestion, I would crop in slightly from the top and left, to center the flower, and darken the background but only slightly. Nice shot! Posted: 10/19/2026 18:21:18
Thanks for your feedback Mark! Posted: 10/20/2026 23:44:06
I really like lighting in this image. I like the leaves in the background the way you have made them. I would like to see the flower take up more room in the frame. To my eye the image is soft. Nice color throughout. Posted: 10/21/2026 22:51:26
Thanks for the feedback Dick. I also think this is a little soft but didn't find it objectionable to my eye. It's probably because of the precarious way I had to position myself to get the shot. I probably wasn't as steady as I would have liked! Posted: 10/22/2026 13:44:13
Hi Denise, beautiful capture of this Tulip Poppy and a great way to enhance it in post-processing. I love the colours and the detail in the flower, and the way you've isolated it by darkening and desaturating the leaves in the background while retaining some of their detail and structure. I agree with Mark's suggestion about cropping a little from the top, but I like the rest of the image just as it is. Posted: 10/23/2026 12:57:06
Kim Kowalewski
Lovely image. I too love the detail in the center of the flower together with the softness of the petals. Keeping some leaves is a good idea, although the bright stem or whatever that touches the petals on the right is a bit of a distraction for me. I also think the image would look better if the flower was brighter. Maybe just boost the luminance of the yellows. That way the white pistil wouldn't stand out so much. Posted: 10/27/2026 19:50:38
Thanks for your feedback Kim! Posted: 10/28/2026 16:17:57