Storm Lily macro - please help!

[play4smee]

I hope I'm posting in the right area - I'm kinda new to this...

I took this macro of a Storm Lily, and overall I'm happy with it, but the petals should be a bright white, not blue. Any suggestions on how to fix this would be appreciated! I've played a little in Elements but I'm just learning how to use it, so there's probably something obvious I've missed. EXIF available on Flickr.

Any other suggestions - composition, framing or anything else - would be appreciated too. :)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/play4smee/2249888488/" title="Another storm lily by play4smee, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2319/2249888488_26f68e1cb3.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="Another storm lily" /></a>
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

[A Team]

I do not know how to do much post processing yet, so I cannot offer advise for your question. The bulish tint is very nice in my opinion. However, I also think this would be a stunning b&W. I think it would be an even better shot if you could retake it and cut the leaf down so that just your petals are visible.

[play4smee]

Thanks for that - I hadn't thought about making it b&w but I think you're right. And yes, the leaf should go. :-)

[Pawaniki]

I don't mind the blue but did try to make it less intense. It almost flattened the image a little though.

I use elements 4 -- the first thing I did was use the magic wand to isolate the petals. Sometimes it is easier to isolate the background and inverse.

Next working with only the petals, go to color variations and decrease blue.

I tried to remove color cast but it created the blue effect.

The last thing I did was still keeping the petals selected I went to edit and filled the petals with a soft light.

3111
Click on photo to enlarge. For some reason my uploads go to small versions.

[jiminyClickit]

play4smee, Welcome

If you were to expose for the white when taking the shot, it would likely look better underexposed in the other areas. This one has almost lost petal detail. It's usually easier to bring up the yellows and greens in the center than to rescue the white.

For your post version, one thing to try is a layer over a copy of your original:
- Convert to B/W. Color balance by adding magenta, cyan, and yellow (you will find a certain amount of color exists in a white bloom. Look for a natural tint, minus the blue).
- Gently erase through this layer to bring back the other parts of your bloom.
- Contrast and darken to taste.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47146451@N00/2254929230/" title="StormLily by jiminyClickit, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2218/2254929230_181cbe1ccf.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="StormLily" /></a>

[play4smee]

Thanks Pawaniki and jiminyClickit. I've got a lot to learn. :-)

It sounds like it's time to learn more about Elements. I'll go back to the original and play a bit more. I'm still learning about the manual controls on my camera too, and exposure is something I haven't really played with. Time to get out the book and try to figure it out.

Thanks again - I really appreciate the feedback!

[Jen473]

After seeing it in white and with the blue tinge I think I like it better with the blue. The original just seems to have more depth to it.

[play4smee]

Thanks Jen. I like the depth too - but the blue really bugs me because that's not how it looked. Ah well, more practice needed!