Activity for User 69 - Tom Pickering - info@photopicks.net

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1433 Comments / 1336 Replies Posted

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Group Round C/R Comment Date Image
53 Oct 21 Comment Beautiful portrait of the girl and I think it's a good setting. I have 2 suggestions to improve your image: 1) remove the glow around her, which looks a bit artificial to my eye; and 2) make more room to the left of her to strengthen the composition. Here's a quick version to demonstrate that: Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Comment I do like what Miriam did by cropping in closer, but I like the colorful story the leaves tell. Nice job. Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Reply see below Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Reply see below Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Reply See below Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Reply See below. Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Comment Based upon your comments, here's a different crop with most everything else the same: Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Comment You're definitely kicking some serious butt with this image, Arabella. Just the right amount of processing to isolate the boat and its reflection without losing any detail in the boat. Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Comment Absolutely scrumptious, Brenda. This should be on exhibit somewhere. There isn't a thing wrong with this image. Oct 29th
53 Oct 21 Reply I will give that a whirl. How far back do you think I should go? Can you demonstrate the crop you're suggesting? Oct 12th
53 Oct 21 Reply Would that it would be that simple. d;¬{D Oct 10th
5 comments - 6 replies for Group 53
95 Oct 21 Reply We do have that saying here. Your Olly has quite a few sophisticated tools under its hood. There's not much automated with my DSLR, but I can't see myself upgrading when it does what I need it to. Oct 30th
95 Oct 21 Comment This image tells a story of the flower beckoning the viewer to come closer. It is very pleasing and I applaud your use of a shallow DOF to direct the viewer's eye where YOU want them to go. I'm not good at that. Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Comment Welcome, Keith! Lovely flower capture, especially handheld. I might be able to do that with my smartphone but my hand shakes too much to try it with a DSLR.

I'll tell you what I told Pat a few moments ago: Get your speed, and ISO set as needed, then take a series of shots of the same subject, changing the aperture before each shot, until you've gone through them all. This will help you to know what your lens can do at the various apertures and thus better choose it for the outcome desired.

Manual focus is very important in macro - move your body rather than changing the focus.		 Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Comment Welcome, Pat! I hope you will feel comfortable here in 95, where we're learning about macro as we go.

I could never accomplish something like this handheld leaning over - maybe with my smartphone, but definitely not with a DSLR. You managed to get a lot of petal detail, especially at f8. In the future, depending on your lens, you might try going a little smaller with your aperture, maybe f16.

The best way to learn your particular lens is to take a series of shots, changing the aperture with each successive shot and then viewing the results.

Stacking can be quite involved or quite simple depending on the subject and your desired result. Once you have the settings you like as far as aperture, speed & ISO, it can be as easy as taking 3-5 shots, starting from the closest point and moving the camera a little closer with each shot until the farthest point is in focus. It does involve using a program like Photoshop CC or Affinity Photo, which can do many things, or getting a dedicated program like Helicon Focus. It can't be accomplished in Lightroom, at least not yet.		 Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Comment Lovely job with this flower. It's certainly pleasing to my eye and reads as a macro. I do agree about the grass behind being a bit of a distraction. Here's my rendition: Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Comment Amazing focus in this image - everything is tack sharp except the background, which is perfect to set off the subject.

I agree that, technically, this doesn't come across as a macro shot, but it's lovely and, I believe, wall-worthy. Nice job.		 Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Comment Welcome to our group, Fran! You certainly started off with a great shot. Great detail where it needs to be, fading to softness as a natural frame/vignette. Very creative and a lesson to us all. d:¬{D Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Reply Thank you, Pat.

The focus latitude will vary by the lens, and the Laowa I'm using, especially at 5x magnification has very little, which is why a flatter subject like the feather works pretty good for a single image macro.		 Oct 29th
95 Oct 21 Reply I used a 2"x6"x12" as the base - not sure what the UK equivalent would be - whatever wood size is used for framing houses. The fun part is finding a way to attach a ball head to the wood base. For that, I used a platypod Ultra which I screwed onto the wood base. Oct 5th
95 Oct 21 Reply Thanks, Carol. I lit the feather from the front and the back, hoping to maximize the tonal variety. At least for you, I seem to have succeeded. d;¬{D Oct 4th
95 Oct 21 Reply It seemed rather wasteful to see the Laowa just sitting there after investing in it. d;¬{D Oct 4th
6 comments - 5 replies for Group 95
11 comments - 11 replies Total

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