The Way of the Digital Photographer: Walking the Photoshop post-production path to more creative photography

Drawing directly on a layer

Walking around my neighborhood one beautiful late spring day, I came across a large clump of calla lilies blooming in a neighbor’s yard. Fascinated by the shapes of the flowers, I rang the doorbell and asked whether I could have a few to photograph. The kind neighbor gave me six!

Back at my studio after shooting a series of close-ups, I looked at the photos on my computer and discovered that the spadix peeking out from the lily petal did not have enough contrast. It just looked like an orange shape with some faint lines.

For this photo to work, the spadix needed to contrast in resolution with the softer parts of the ...