Salvia amarissima pen & ink illustration

I'd like your input on this Adobe Photoshop image that I just made using some of the filters on a just completed scan of the flower spike, especially about its usefulness for identification purposes.

I'll follow it with the parent scanned image.

Here is the image I used the filter on:

What a nice crisp, detailed line drawing. What a great technique!

I must admit that I prefer the original, coloured image. Gives more information to my mind.

Jim

looks like it would be good for an id pic. catalog pic...
I'm not an expert...
Elaine

It is possible in Photoshop to colorize the pseudo pen & ink image by selecting the original scanned image and pasting it as a layer in a PSD file, then adjust the intensity using the Darken option. This file is done at 50% Darken:

This one was done at 75% Darken:

This one was done at 90% Darken:

And, finally, this is the 50% Darken with the Level adjusted to bring out the colors.

Let me know what you think of these as Pen & Ink Watercolored facsimiles, and their possible illustration usefulness. Which one do you like best?

This one appears to be the most natural reproduction, is the color intensity similar to a living plant's flower color?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6965283

I am using the exact colors pixel by pixel taken from the initial image, and the percentage is a measure of the degree of saturation.

I put these up as a way for viewers to tease apart the relational aspects of pen and ink/watercolor images versus fresh pressed flower images. It is all highly subjective, and I'd really appreciate comments.

I am highly curious about which options create the clearest impressions of the nature of the plant and maximize its taxonomic features. I'd like to find the optimum way to link verbal descriptions (formal taxonomic descriptions) for those whose minds work in abstractions to optimally inclusive images (art to photography) for those of us who think in pictures (most strongly those of us who have Aspergers or have highly functional ADD minds).

I think a combination of both the verbal and visual representations would make for a much clearer understanding of the nature and identity of each subject.

I think my next experiment might be to use these images in an animated GIF.

As much as I think these pictures are admirable, beautiful, and professional......please excuse my ignorance when I ask why high-quality digital close-up photos cannot do the job? Sure, some colours are not easy to reproduce on camera, especially reddish/purple Salvias....and bright scarlet also. OK, differing light conditions can certainly affect the colour of the flowers....so can differing soils and climates. (For example, I have 2 plants of Salvia darcyi in different parts of my garden.....both from cuttings of the same plant...one has much larger flowers with a deeper red colour than the other. Amounts of sun and shade seem to be an important factor.)

Robin.