Ideas for photos don’t always align with my abilities to execute them. I feel like I should have that made into a t-shirt, given how many times I’ve thought it to myself. I may have an idea that I have a general concept of how I will develop it, but as they say, the devil is always in the details. You start working on it and realize, well, this is harder than I thought.
This little intimate landscape scene of some ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), both native woodland plants to Michigan, is from a day of just walking around observing in our backyard this past May. We’ve managed to steward a decent-sized patch of jewelweed, and it seems to be more than happy to expand its territory (thanks to its explosive seed pods, pretty cool if you aren’t familiar with them – and why they are also called Touch-Me-Nots) every year. The ferns spread quite a bit, also.
These two plants tend to compete a bit with each other, but at different times of the year. In early spring, the ferns come up first as fiddleheads (edible BTW) and quickly grow larger than any jewelweed when it begins. By mid-spring in May, they are a bit balanced with each other, where the jewelweed then begins to grow more, and the ferns kinda take the background by summertime. So it was at that May equilibrium point that I noticed the “balance” of this grouping.
The problem was that even though the shapes and forms seemed balanced, the color was not. It was all green, and very similar shades of green. For those that don’t know, our eyes/brains are very sensitive to green, so the color becomes a pretty strong element in any photograph. It can be so overpowering that I often will desaturate green in many images if it isn’t helping the scene out. So my idea was to try to balance the shapes and eliminate the green by making a black and white photo.
However, even a black and white conversion is going to have some issues because the ferns and surrounding jewelweed leaves are all very similar tones of green. So you end up with what looks like a mush of all similar monotones. But, with the fancy selection tools now in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, I thought if I could make a selection of the ferns and a separate selection of the jewelweed leaves, I could independently adjust their tonality. Heh, easier said than done.
Even with all the new fancy Select Subject AI tools in software, it still isn’t smart enough when there isn’t a lot of color contrast. So I ended up doing large parts of it manually, with some help from the “smart” selection tools, but I had to switch between them constantly. That’s why I haven’t posted in so long, I’ve been working on this &^#@$ selection! ( Kidding!!) I think I did remark at one time it was a grotesque amount of time, which seems appropriate if I actually kept track. It became almost meditative as long as our dogs weren’t interrupting me. Needless to say, I really thought I could make the original idea work and was persistent.
I am relatively happy with the outcome – for now.
What you did is astonishing. And this photograph is well worth the time and effort. Let us know if you ever find an easy way to separate the greens.
Well thanks Linda – glad it is liked. And back at ya on the greens. But ultimately you probably just tell an AI to “select the fern” someday.
The end result is amazing. I love the contrast you’ve introduced into the image.
Glad you like it Howard. Hope you are doing well!
Thanks Mark. All is well here and hope you are too!
There’s no question this took a LOT of time to do, but it looks like it was time well spent. The results are absolutely astounding. So well done, Mark.
Thanks Bob. I was actually hoping to NOT spend as much time, but I can be stubborn. 🙂
The results here speak for themselves! 🙂 I am quite familiar with jewelweed here. It is invasive in our area, and boy it knows how to spread! They are kind of fun to set off though.
Thanks! I understand they call it just “aggressive” here since it is a native plant, which I can attest to – it does like to spread. The seed pods bursting is pretty cool and one wonders how it evolved to do that. Just the slightest little touch can set one off.
Also supposedly known to help with poison ivy rashes in a pinch, but I am not willing to test it.
The time to test it is in an actual pinch. 🙂 I get stinging nettle stings occasionally and rubbing plantain leaf on it (after chewing it up slightly) helps immediately. I think stinging nettles and poison ivy are in different leagues though! The mechanism for the seed pods to explode is interesting, and I recall being tested on it years ago. That is all I recall about that though.
I’d say you nailed it with the tonal separation and contrast. Very well done and well worth the effort.
Appreciate it PJ
A fine image, Mark. 🙂
Thank you Jane
I think you did an outstanding job of what had to be a difficult task, Mark. I’ve found that photographing ferns and their delicacy can be challenging even under ideal conditions, and you did so successfully in a sea of green with lovely results.
Appreciate the comment Earl. Yea, more often than not I am scratching my head wondering how to make something of them.