Hellebores

Our city lot is generously shaded by large trees, so I'm always on the lookout for plants that thrive in shade and in our North Texas soil and climate. Hellebores fit the bill, although, alas, they are both slow-growing and a bit pricey. You can't just plant a few and expect them to spread. There are, however, enviable swaths of them at the Dallas Arboretum where I snapped the original photo.

 

One of my Christmas presents (from me to me) was Topaz ReMask, a masking plug-in for Photoshop, so I tried it out on the hellebore image with great success. I played around with just the hellebores on a transparent background, using two other Topaz plug-ins, Adjust and Simplify on separate copies, then Akvis Sketch on another copy. I also enhanced the pinks with a Selective Color adjustment layer.

The background consists of soft, cloudy neutrals on one layer, a deep purple layer over that and two copies of a photo of ferns, one filtered with Topaz Simplify and one with Akvis Sketch. The real magic happens with the blending modes, and there are so many possibilities producing such different effects that I often find it difficult to decide which looks best. (And also find it difficult to stop tweaking.) I finally went with this result which I think makes the ferns look as if stamped or printed on a slightly metallic surface, and they ground the hellebores without distracting from them. There are also a few light touches of gold on top on the background image.

It's been a while since I've done anything “creative” in Photoshop. Because isn't it easy to put aside unessential pursuits for things that “need” to be done. But the satisfaction and pleasure that comes from those pursuits indicate that they are indeed essential, even if the world (or Flickr) isn't breathlessly awaiting another of my oeuvres.