Indian Curry Leave Fruits

I am currently having a HDR fever! I started flickr 1 month ago and discovered the wonderful world of HDR. My favourite HDRs are from flickr mates - Kaj Bjurman, Eric Rousset & Artie Ng.

 

I'm exploring the different ways in photomatix and photoshop cs2 to get the most of each individual image.

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About this picture:

This is actually the Indian Curry Leaves plant bearing berry-like fruits. You would find the leaves and its seeds used in Indian cuisine frequently. The leaves and seeds give out a strong pungent flavour to curries.

 

This shot:

Standard 3 exposure shot (+2..0..-2 EV) using Tamron 18-200mm lens

 

Photomatix:

- Tonemapped generated HDR using detail enhancer option

 

Photoshop:

- added a layer of curves to enhance the overall contrast

- added a layer of levels then slightly shifted the midpoint toward the left to brighten up the image

- changed image mode to "Lab"

- Added a layer of curves then narrow down the "a" and "b" to enhance the colour of leaves and berries

- duplicated the background layer then apply gaussian blur 20 pixels then set opacity to about 25% to get that "fresh and soft" look

- added the vignette as final touch up

 

You:

All comments and criticisms for improvements are welcome. Hope you like it!

 

Done