To plant a garden is to dream of tomorrow
Audrey Hepburn
The soft delicacy of flower petals can give them an ethereal, dreamlike quality. And a bit of creative photo editing can enhance that impression, A blurred background, combined with soft focus, can make the flowers seem to float in a hazy, dreamy space.
My go-to software for creative photo editing these days involves using the Nik Collection filters, mainly Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro, as a plugin with Photoshop Elements. And within these filter sets I have some favourites. Perhaps surprisingly, since I don’t ‘do’ portraiture, I find myself quite often turning to the ‘Classical soft focus’ filter, especially for florals. It gives a softer, almost luminous effect which I really like. And I often combine this with a vignette to blur the edges, another effect I like. The Sunlight filter can also give a lovely glow to floral shots.
So for this week’s Lens Artists challenge, for which Ann Christine has set the theme of ‘Dreamy’, I’ve taken some floral images from my archives and played around with these. To suit the theme I’ve taken a more amplified approach than I normally would to create an even dreamier atmosphere, sometimes doubling up on the soft focus, for instance. I’m also linking to Terri’s new Flower Hour challenge, which looks like being a lovely addition to the many we can choose to join each week.
My feature photo was taken in the castle gardens in Tavira, Portugal.
Cosmos line the roads in North Korea
Harvested roses on a farm near Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Waterlily at Angkor Wat, Cambodia
In the grounds of our hotel in Monteverde, Costa Rica
Bougainvillea on a balcony in Luang Prabang, Laos
By the World Peace Pagoda, Pokhara, Nepal
In the botanic gardens, Cagliari, Sardinia
In the village of Ban Houa Done Deng, southern Laos
Wild rose, Runnymeade, England
At Stokesay Castle in Shropshire, England
In Bandipur, Nepal
‘Mum at Kew Gardens, west London
Dreamy bee, Ealing, west London
Poppies, Norfolk, England
44 Comments
Wind Kisses
I love the softness you brought to the flowers, that are usually brilliant and bold. You nailed it, and I think the poppy shot needs to be on a wall somewhere. I love that.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Donna 😊 I enjoyed playing with these so I’m really pleased you feel the edits worked.
grandmisadventures
Beautiful, bright, and happy
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you enjoyed them, thank you Meg 🙂
Annie Berger
The poppies are always my favorite, Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
One of my favourites too Annie 😀
wetanddustyroads
Dreamy indeed! When it comes to flowers, it’s usually hard to pick a favourite … but I like the soft effect in the photo of the cosmos in North Korea.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – I love cosmos flowers 😀
Marie
Beautiful….. I love poppies..
Sarah Wilkie
Me too – one of my favourites! Thank you Marie 🙂
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography
I like how we all interpret dreamy differently 😀 (a new visit)
Sarah Wilkie
Very true 🙂 Maybe that’s because we all dream differently?
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography
and see colors and light differently
Sarah Wilkie
Very true 🙂
Sofia Alves
The cosmos and the Laos Bougainvillea are perfectly dreamy for me, Sarah, which shows it can be vibrant and dreamy at the same time. However, the same effect didn’t work as well in other photos. I’m not sure if it’s the colour combinations or maybe the too close close ups, not sure. It’s an effect to play more with, for sure.
Sarah Wilkie
I think maybe it is the yellow flowers that people are struggling to find dreamy? I know the colour is punchy but to me the softening effect still created a sense of unreality which I associate with dreaminess – however clearly others do not!
Leya
A very dreamy post, Sarah! And I cannot deny the beauty of the flowers – but some are a bit too loud for me as well. But as you say, we are all different. My absolute favourites are the cosmos, the bougainvillea and the poppies. The bougainvillea is otherworldly.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, I’m glad you found some to love 😃 I guess I’m seeing dreamy as not necessarily meaning pale, while others associate it only with softer shades.
Rose
These are all so dreamy Sarah. They look like they belong in a fairy tale. 🌸🪷🌹🩷
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Rose 😊 That’s certainly the sort of effect I was aiming for but judging by the mixed comments the jury is out on whether I achieved it!
Leanne Cole
These are great Sarah, I thought about doing floral images, but decided not to. I love these.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Leanne 😊
Egídio
Incredible beauty on display here! The Cosmos are amazing.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Egidio 😊 One of my strongest memories of North Korea is of the cosmos lining all the rural roads, planted so that they will look beautiful should the Leader ever travel that way!
Egídio
It’s a sweet story for a sad regime.
Heyjude
Mmm… I am going to be slightly contentious here has as much as I love flower photography and often use Nik filters myself I find all of these images are rather vibrant and not dreamy at all. The highlights are very overblown on my monitor. I like the last one of the poppies but even in that scene the white daisies are very loud. Sorry!
Sarah Wilkie
I don’t think you’re being contentious Jude – photography is subjective after all. And Sue would agree with you, also Anabel to a lesser extent. These seem to be Marmite images – some people love them (or are just being polite!) while others like you aren’t convinced.
restlessjo
I’m going to be totally biased and say the Tavira castle gardens is my favourite, Sarah. They are all lovely though xx
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Jo 🙂 We loved those gardens in Tavira and did lots of flower photography while there.
Tina Schell
Interestingly Sarah, I’m a constant user of the Nik tools with P/S but haven’t tried “classical soft focus”. Rest assured I’ll be checking it out after seeing your beautiful post. They’re all lovely but the closing image is my favorite of the set.
Sarah Wilkie
It’s really intended for portraiture, based on the Nik filter categories, but I never do that so it took me a while to discover its versatility. Thanks so much Tina 😊
Joanne
Lovely dreamlike images, Sarah. I can’t pick a favorite, I love them all. Very nice soft focus.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Joanne 😊
Terri Webster Schrandt
I LOVE macro and close-up photography, Sarah, and flowers are the perfect subjects, not to mention their dreamy aspects when photographed (or smelled)! It was interesting to read how you choose your soft focus filters. My fave is the bougainvillea–something about the pink against the turquoise! Lovely, and thank you for double-dipping into my new challenge!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Terri 😊 I love bougainvillea and can never resist photographing it!
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
These are attractive, but after reading Sue’s comment I went back to look again and I see what she means. Despite the soft focus they are quite “in your face”!
Sarah Wilkie
I’m finding this ‘conversation’ very interesting 🙂 Do you think images have to be pale to be dreamy, I wonder? For me the soft focus and diffused light make them feel dreamy but I guess that doesn’t work the same way for everyone.
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Maybe – more ethereal?
Sarah Wilkie
Yes maybe …
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography
Sarah the poppie is my absolute favorite. An amazing art piece
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Ritva 😊
Sue
An interesting approach to the theme, Sarah. The two that I most enjoyed were thee cosmos lining the roads in Korea, was it?, and Bougainvillea on a balcony in Luang Prabang. I’m afraid I didn’t so much find others dreamy, more shouty- sorry 😳
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Sue, that’s interesting to hear 🙂
Sue
😊