Denise McKay  


Radiance by Denise McKay

October 2026 - Radiance

October 2026 - Denise McKay

Original

October 2026 - Denise McKay

Original 2

About the Image(s)

Now that the flower blooming season here is coming to an end, I was out looking for interesting seed pods or dying flowers. I came across this seed pod from a flower species commonly called a chocolate daisy. It's named that because the flower is supposed to have a chocolaty scent. I've included a picture of a flower still in bloom to show how drastically different the seed pod is from the flower.

Taken outdoors using a 100mm macro lens, at f8, ISO 400, 1/200 sec. hand held in natural light on a cloudy day.

In Lightroom Classic I cropped, removed background distractions, masked and darkened the background, masked the seed pod and increased exposure, texture, clarity, and contrast.

In Topaz Studio 2 I layered 3 filters that allowed me to enhance the details in the textures and manipulate the colors.

In Photoshop I added a stroke around the edges choosing a color from the image.

I titled this image Radiance because of how the parts of the seed pod radiated out from the center with the light going darker as it moved towards the background. I hope that came across.


7 comments posted




Georgianne Giese   Georgianne Giese
You really brought out color in this wabi sabi image! This is an anazing seed pod. It reminds me of an antique medallion , a real gem.

The background seems to be a very dark green. It almost swallows the seed pod. I found myself wanting the seed pod to stand out more from its background, but I'm clueless as to what shade that background might be. Personally, I'd start by choosing a hue from the rusty brown in the center.

There is a bit of an arc that seems disjointed from the pod. It is at the top. You might consider removing that.

All in all, this is a stunning image, one I would readily post on my wall!   Posted: 10/03/2026 04:00:44
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
I see the arc you are talking about. It was a small petal in the back but it can be easily removed. I did paint dark green into the background then darkened the exposure. I forgot to mention that.

Thanks for your feedback!   Posted: 10/05/2026 14:59:01



Rita Johnston   Rita Johnston
I like the colors in the main one, and you also made it a unique image. Nice job.   Posted: 10/08/2026 01:55:50
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
Thanks Rita!   Posted: 10/11/2026 15:15:56



Jan Handman   Jan Handman
What an interesting seed pod Denise. You did a great job of bringing out the nice textures and shapes. I agree about taking out that pesky petal at the top. To me the image seems too dark, but that could just be a function of my monitor. I like the color and width of the border you added. Nice!   Posted: 10/10/2026 19:52:15
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
Now that I've had one eye fixed through cataract surgery, I can already see a difference in colors, brightness, and contrast! I think it will be interesting to look at a few images from the past to see if I'd change how they were edited once my other eye is done.

Thanks for your feedback Jan!   Posted: 10/11/2026 15:19:18



Denise McKay   Denise McKay
Tomorrow, 10/13, I'll get my cataract removed from my second eye. But before that, I decided to edit my image based on everyone's feedback so far. I removed the back petal that was peeking up at the top, then I brightened the image which led to me doing more edits in camera raw to the color, saturation, texture, etc. as I felt the image got a little washed out. Here's the result.   Posted: 10/12/2026 14:00:55
Comment Image



 

Please log in to post a comment