Lovely Lily just won the Naples Botanical Garden Water Lily 2025 competition for color. I go often to the garden (45 minute drive, so not as often as we'd like) and love the lilies, lotus and orchids (which I have more trouble getting good shots of). I love the variety of colors and love editing them. This time I had to remove a few distractions (PS and LR healing) and enjoy the new LR remove tool. Lots of masks for exposure, blacks, whites, highlights, hue and color temp adjustments, radial gradients to focus on the lily, more masks for saturation, tint, shadows, hue, and exposure and then double checked for spots on the petals and water that I found distracting. A slight vingnette to finish it so your attention went to the lily. I actually found the print (NBG made canvas prints of the winners) was darker than I expected. Not sure if that's an editing issue or printing issue. The water is black (they put something in it), so it's always dark and a good contrast.
Safe travels,
8 comments posted
Tom Buckard
(Groups 21 & 48 & 71)
Carol, absolutely a gorgeous image of a Lily. Most people shoot a flower and put it in the middle of the frame and it makes a static image. Your image is actually three images. The pad, the reflection and the lily and they fit like a puzzle. It has sharpness in all critical areas and it has a good non distracting background. Excellent!!! Posted: 10/12/2025 13:36:04
Carol Heffernan
Thanks Tom. Lots of editing and thought for this shot. Rules of composition I've learned over the years helped me put the flower to the side and give some open space. Love taking flower pics, as they don't move ( I don't have a mirrorless with eye detection, so struggle to get birds in flight). But it was fun getting this to where I wanted it. Posted: 10/21/2025 21:15:27
Jennie Wang
(Group 25)
Hi Carol, love your beautiful Lily. The color of the Lily is so unusual yet appealing. You definitely put in a great deal of work to bring this beautiful image to life! Thank you for sharing. Posted: 10/15/2025 06:14:00
Carol Heffernan
Jennie, thank you so much for your comment. I appreciate that we all know how much goes into an image from planning to final edits. We are fortunate to have a wonderful Botanical Garden that has an international water lily competition, so we get all colors, shapes and sizes during the year here in Naples, Florida.
Posted: 10/21/2025 21:17:49
Pauline Jaffe
What a lovely image. The colors of the purple and pink are so vibrant. This image has wonderful lighting and is in sharp focus. I especially love the reflection of the lilly underneath, in the water. Congratulations on your win. Posted: 10/19/2025 20:43:18
Carol Heffernan
Thanks Pauline, I appreciate your comments and worked to bring out the colors, which are really that wonderful. The reflection was an added bonus and when I saw I could get it, I was really happy. The garden actually has a workshop that lets people walk in the water and get close to the lilies, and get some fun angles. Posted: 10/21/2025 21:20:50
Alec Chester
Carol, this is a real beauty. Your work in post was quite effective and, I can tell, not easy. It fully deserved the prize! Posted: 10/20/2025 13:17:35
Carol Heffernan
Alec, thanks for the comments and I appreciate that you all understand post processing is a key. I've been watching videos and keep learning whenever I can. We all take so many pictures, but fully editing only a few to show and enjoy. It's now hanging at a show, and will be on my wall soon. Posted: 10/21/2025 21:23:29
