Ah, the Dahlia Show --

I'm going to be processing the pictures for a while, but I'll share the first few from the Dahlia Society show.  I love going to the flower society shows -- it's such a challenge to get good pictures.  I was going to take a picture of the whole show, but forgot -- but imagine, a high school cafeteria, not particularly well lit, people jostling in the aisles, cafeteria tables cluttered with plants and identification tags, on and on.  Not the best situation for photographing flowers.  Of course I can't take a tripod; I'd be in everyone's way.  So I take a monopod and do the best I can.   Here's an example of a sooc shot -- 

 
Kind of dim, and you can see all the clutter in the background.  Add to that the fact that my hands shake, and . . . well, it's a challenging situation!  But that's what makes it fun, trying to make something good come out.  So here's one:

 Linkup to Your Sunday Best

I used two of Flypaper's new textures on this pic -- Tiepolo and Trapeza.  For this particular one, it wasn't too hard to get the background dark and then go from there.  The second one, I wanted to be more abstract:

 Linkup to NF Inspiring Photography

 

I wish there were a way to emphasize the curves more -- that's what I liked about the image.  Anyone have any ideas?  I tried filters like poster edges, paint daubs, etc., but in the end I liked the unadorned picture.

Finally, I did one with three flowers.  Here's the original:

These flowers were outside the main exhibit hall but still have a bunch of messiness in the background.  Here's the finished product: 

Linkup to Quotography

 I like the way this one came out, though I wish there were more leaves -- I guess I could clone some in, but . . . 

Does anyone else enjoy heading out with your camera to flower society shows?  What kind of results are you able to get?