Where did I go wrong?

[like-I-see-it]

I hated the background and the washed-out color of the lily, so I played around with Photo shop to get it to look .....better?
Something is still off, I'm just not sure what - any input or suggestions welcome.
I still have the PSD file, but sorry to say, I lost the EXIF data for this photo.

[bbtom10]

I suggest that the colours are too vibrant and the original image just wasn't at an interesting enough angle - cutting out the background hasn't made the picture particularly better, just a bit more garish.

I would recommend picking a more striking subject and trying to get the composition right in the next attempt, and then being a bit more gentle with the PP work to avoid blowing out the colours like this - I think it also needs a bit of a feathering around the edges - it is much too sharp where you have cut the background out.

Sorry, don't mean to be too harsh!

Tom

[like-I-see-it]

Thanks - I knew there was something off - I'll try the feathering and toning down - but as a matter of taste, I like vibrant colors.
Can't redo the shot - the lilies are bloomed out....

[cruelnovember]

i think you over saturated it.. it still can be vibrant... its similar when creating a faux HDR.. convert it to smart object to access smart filters then increase the shadow/highlights then add a black and white adjustment layer click auto>ok. duplicate that layer, hide layer style then add a smart sharpen.. then you can tweek some setting according to how you want the outcome to be.

[like-I-see-it]

Thanks for the feedback. Time permitting, I will play around with it this week and post the update.
I never got into the HDR thing, and really wasn't looking for an HDR effect. Guess it just happened that way.

[helga]

I would take out the second, small green branch. I have no idea what it connects too actually