Lilac's In The Air

Yesterday morning I took a few more pictures of the lilac in my front yard. It was a typically Northwest early Spring day. Gray, drizzly, and cold. I used a different lens (50mm instead of the 17-40mm). I couldn't get the exposure I wanted, as the fill flash made the twig and buds (I think that sounds funny) too intense, and a regular exposure left them too dark, even playing with the exposure. Eventually, but by then the lens would have gotten wet.

So, I experimented with the selection ability of Photoshop using the magic wand and polygon to select just the lilac plant, so I could turn up the color and brightness there, while dimming the background. Then some time cleaning up the edges with the smudge tool. Not perfect, but I'm pleased with my first try. There are a number of other pictures from my trip I want to do this kind of processing with. This was a non-flash picture. Tonight I'll play with the one of the exposures using a fill flash, if I got one in decent focus (the auto-focus is out on the 50mm - I think it was dropped from a short height).