I have been keeping busy with private one-on-one Photoshop Zoom programs. During these sessions my clients and I have been working on all kinds of images. But for this particular session my client wanted to work on how to clean-up busy backgrounds for her flower images. I shared two tulip images below along with how I would tackle them. I am sharing here with you both the original and the final image for both tulip shots.

I know that these are not award winning images and cleaning up the background for images not meant for competition is fine. I photographed both the tulip images below at Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands several years ago. I remember all my trips to Holland with such joy. I am considering doing another workshop at Keukenhof Gardens including the surrounding flower fields once Covid gets in check.

I captured two different versions of the tulip because I couldn’t decide at the time which I preferred, so it’s best to do both. The first was captured with a soft touch in mind. I wanted the background flowers to act as colorful splashes to enhance the main subject. I shot it at f/5.6.

The second image was an interaction between the two tulips with the light playing more of an integral part of the shot. Background clean-up for the first photo was easy and the second one a bit more difficult. When deciding to do any kind of background clean-up it is best to work on a duplicate layer and apply your touch-ups selectively with the use of a layer mask. Finishing touches included lightening up the background and a slight crop.

Which do you prefer and why?? Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Denise