Original

I have been working for some time on a collection of Photoshop techniques specifically for flowers. These range from realistic adjustments to abstract results.

THE IMAGE

For this image I cut some hydrangea blossoms in my garden and put them in a simple clear textured vase. I photographed this on my hardwood floor with beautiful light coming in from the east.

PHOTOSHOP

Then I copied the background layer twice. On the 2nd one I added a Glamour Glow with NIK Color Efex Pro 4.

On the top layer, I used NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and used the preset called Deep 1.

Finally I added a layer filled with 50% Gray and set to a blend mode of Overlay. With the brush at a low opacity (around 20%) I dodged and burned several areas with white and black.

This is a brief overview of the process… more details will be available in the final collection of techniques.