Delta Dawn, What's that flower you got on?

You know how a song gets stuck in your head and no matter what you do it just won't leave? They say if you sing it to someone else, it'll transfer but "Delta Dawn" didn't want to go to anyone else so I thought maybe if I used it to inspire something: "Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?" Well, I tried my hand at fading a rose today. I know it's a long way to Tipperary but given that I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I started, I don't think I'm all THAT far away.

Really beautiful - nice fading :-) Almost looks like it's fading into a pastel drawing...
Great composition too...

now you got that F*$^%(*&# song stuck in my head!!! :D

Interesting experiment, IMO it goes a lil too gray toward the edges. That may be a personal preference though. Looks good though.

I like it D...................now I'm going to play stupid. How'd you do it?

Thank you all for looking and critiquing.

Payn, I guess it does work! LOL. I wasn't sure about the gray either. I wasn't sure if I wanted it simply fading in color or if I wanted to make it get "dusty" as if fading in life. Does that make sense? I went with the dusty because the song itself is so tragic.

Joh, I did the hard way. Like I said, it kind of just jumped into my head and if my boss knew how much time I spent trying to get it even this close, he'd shoot me.

I started off with the full color rose. I saved it as a separate file so that I wouldn't ruin the original. Then I created a layer and desaturated it then changed the opacity to 25%. Then I used the eraser and started to clear out the center so that the deeper red came through. When it looked like I had it where I wanted it, I flattened the image then saved it as a second shot to make sure that I didn't lose the work but without destroying the first layered shot (in case I need to start over again. I'm paranoid that way). I repeated everything on a third layer, desating the new picture so that each one produced a lighter version of the one before, then a fourth. Each time, I would save the shot, flattening it first. Once I had all the exposed sections at the right width, I went through with the eraser very weakly to try and get rid any hard edges. I also used the healing tool to blend in the color a wee bit more. Then I played with levels a bit to clean up the shadows.

I've no doubt there is a much easier way to do this, but I found that this really gave me a lot more control. Since it was my first attempt at such a thing, I really need to do multiple steps and take small bites to make sure I understand the implications of each action. Truth be told, I will need a lot more layers to get it the way I really, really want it, but that will have to be done on a weekend otherwise I'll be asking you guys if anyone is hiring in your area. But let's see if I ever get it where I want!

I remember listening to that song on the car radio when I was traveling on vacation with my folks, when I was like 8 years old, or so. I like that song alot. what a blast from the past.
I think your image works well. It has a soft, appealing quality to it. I am thinking about you applying a texture so that it looks like it is printed on canvas or watercolor paper. Good work, D

I can't believe I didn't chime in already on this one! I think this is the best thing since your garlic and perfume image!! Very creative and I'm glad you got away with it. ;)
Beautiful work D! I use music to inspire me quite a bit too! :D