A few colors

[behind_a_shutter]

I love this image because of the vibrant colors (unfortunately the butterfly/moth is not colorful) but color is all around it ...

This is a simple image with minor PP with brightness. In this case since the light was heavy on the foreground, reducing "bringness" in photoshop remarkably darkened the background. But I always dont find this so easy. I am also confused with "Brightness" and "lightness" (with hue and saturation in another option in another menu) .

Please educate me about the difference of these two and also how I can use HDR for such awkwardly shaped foreground. Thanks.

Goes without saying; that I would want your feedback on the image more than the PP work (which is no more than reduction of brightness :P)

Location: Chikmagalur, India
Camera: Canon SX20 IS
Shutter Speed: 1/1000sec
Aperture: f/5.7
ISO: 80
Exposure Comp: 0
Marco: No
Lens Expansion: 560m (equivalenet)

[doubleconvex]

Originally Posted by behind_a_shutter

This is a simple image with minor PP with brightness. In this case since the light was heavy on the foreground, reducing "bringness" in photoshop remarkably darkened the background. But I always dont find this so easy. I am also confused with "Brightness" and "lightness" (with hue and saturation in another option in another menu) .

Brightness refers to the intensity of all ranges of colours in an image.
Hue and Saturation refer to the colour temperature (cool=blue; hot=red) of the image. When you adjust the hue, you can impart a colour tint to your image. When changing the saturation, you're essentially changing the intensity of the colour tint of your image. (the blues will be bluer, the greens will turn out greener, and/or the reds will be redder).

For HDR applications to your image, your key task would be to shoot in RAW while shooting at the most correct exposure for this image. You will need to use bracketting (AEB) to shoot multiple exposures before composing an HDR image. Your limitation might be the camera you are using in this case. I'm not sure if a Canon SX20 will shoot in RAW or not, or allow you to do AEB. In case you're interested, check out my tutorial on HDR photography.

As far as your image goes, you have composed it well. As a suggestion, when posting an image for comments and critiques, consider not watermarking them. You will continue to retain your copyright, and it makes it a lot easier for us to view your image and offer feedback in our constant common effort to get better at our craft.