|
| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
You should get the first lesson within a couple of weeks. d:¬{D |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
I am nearly done with a course entitled Introduction to Affinity Photo which will be offered to PSA members. Would you be interested in being a beta tester of the course? |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
That is much better, Brian. |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
The reason you probably don't have a lot of images on the walls is it would be too difficult to choose which of your masterpieces to put there. d;¬{D |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
I think I understand what you're trying to convey, Brian. Can you post a redo to illustrate it? |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
Just to explore what Brenda suggests, I removed the sanitizer station and the janitor's cart in the background to the left.
I understand wanting to tell a certain story about the emptiness being a result of the pandemic, but I don't know if the sanitizer station actually conveys that. For the sake of movement of the image and the symmetry, I think its removal is perhaps appropriate. Personally, having lost a wife to the virus, I would rather not have any reminders. |
Jan 25th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
Thanks, Rusty. It was difficult finding a suitable background for the story and I originally thought the more industrial look with the objects on the wall would create a better context. Guess I was too close to it to see that those objects were a distraction. |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
The image was captured in our kitchen, as shown in this original: |
Jan 25th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
Spinach won't likely help - Zach is at least 200 pounds lighter than Landon. d;¬{D |
Jan 25th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
Very interesting subject, Arabella! Quite a departure, actually. You have captured a very interesting cluster of fruit, whatever they may be.
I found the branch in the lower-left corner a distraction, and it would be better if the background was a little softer to help pop the subject. I took the image into Affinity Photo and attempted to demonstrate my suggestions. Thoughts? |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
See my rework below: |
Jan 17th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
See my rework below: |
Jan 17th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
Based upon the two suggestions received so far, here's a redo of the image without the background distractions. Thoughts? |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
That's 2 votes for their removal. Guess I best be getting to work. d;¬{D |
Jan 17th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
I love the composition of this image. The eye is drawn into the image nicely towards the lower-right sweet spot. The colors add to the drama of the image, too.
I did find the image a bit noisy, which is surprising given the low ISO. I took the image into Topaz Denoise AI to subtly remove the noise, then into Affinity Photo to remove some distractions (mainly the horizontal lines crossing the waterway). Thoughts? |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
What a soothing image! Right place at the right time, for sure. The colors are gorgeous and the softness of the moisture. Great piece for the wall.
I did find it a bit noisy, which is not unusual for the lighting at that time of day. I took it into Topaz Denoise AI to subtly remove some of the noise. Thoughts? |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
A lot of drama in that wave! Makes for a nice story with the couple watching.
For me, there were some distracting elements, such as the 2 couples in the background and the white fencing. I removed those, as well as the dog (whose focus was on the foreground woman) and cropped some to emphasize the 3 main elements - the couple and the wave. Thoughts? |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
Love the bench and its setting. I would definitely be inclined to take a seat and soak in the surroundings.
With the central position of the bench, I felt it didn't have enough focal draw, so I cropped some to bring it more into the foreground. I also added some clarity and warmed up the colors to give more of a fall feel. What do you think? |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
Great composition, Rohan! As Arabella said, the escalators work to draw the eye into the image. There's a sense of symmetry, while a nice contrast between the straight lines of the escalators with the curves that surround them. Shooting this ultra-wide was a great choice! |
Jan 17th |
| 53 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
I agree that they don't add to the story, but I thought they added an ambiance to the look. I may try removing them to see if it helps. |
Jan 17th |
7 comments - 13 replies for Group 53
|
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
Thank you, Fran! |
Jan 23rd |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
As I mentioned to Keith, in Macro it's important to set your lens at 1:1, turn off Auto Focus, and don't touch the focus ring. Either move your subject until it's in focus or move the camera until the subject is in focus. When working inside on a tripod, the best tool to add is a focus rail, which will allow you to move the camera in small increments to get the focus you want. I started with one like this: https://www.amazon.com/DSLRKIT-Focusing-Slider-Updated-Version/dp/B007L41QZG/ref=sr_1_10?keywords=focus+rails&qid=1642456544&sr=8-10
While a rail like this is not real good for focus stacks, it does work really well for getting your subject in the best focus without touching the focus ring. |
Jan 17th |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
Excellent job, especially handheld. I don't know that I could accomplish this without a monopod at the very least - my hand is not that steady.
I looked at the other 3 orientations of this image and I find that yours works the best. There's a feeling like the stink bug is rising up to check this big eye that's watching it. Though some of the insect is out of focus, it doesn't take away from the image at all, especially since you have the head and eyes in focus. Nice job! |
Jan 17th |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
Capturing a single-image macro at 1:1 is no simple endeavor. It takes lots of practice. At least with digital cameras, you can take lots of shots to experiment and learn from. This iris is quite lovely and would have presented many interesting macro shots. How to do that?
Some key things to remember when shooting macro are: 1) turn off Auto Focus; 2) set the focus to 1:1; 3) do not touch the focus ring again! But wait! How do I focus if I cannot touch the focus ring??? Either move your subject until it's in focus or move your camera until the subject is in focus.
This is one of the hardest things to train yourself to do when starting into macro - it took me quite a while to figure it out. Once you start doing this, you'll find a whole new world appears in your viewfinder.
That said, there are things that can be done in post-processing to improve the look of your images. In this case, I brought your original into Affinity Photo, selected the iris and copied it to its own layer, removed it and the dead bud from the original layer, applied some Gaussian blur to that layer, applied some clarity and to the iris, then some vibrance to the whole image, and finally did some targeted dodging and burning to add a little more dimensionality to the iris. Let me know what you think. |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
I forgot to answer your question about stacking in Photoshop. The short answer is, "Yes." The process is fairly simple and works pretty well for small stacks (15 images or less). For more involved stacks, which can number in the hundreds in extreme cases, a dedicated program like Helicon Focus or Zerene Stacker is highly recommended.
Here's a link to a step-by-step tutorial on focus stacking inside Photoshop: https://photoshopcafe.com/focus-stacking-photoshop-tutorial/ |
Jan 17th |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Comment |
At first glance, this appeared a little out of focus to me. After more study, I think it's the back-lighting that causes this as it brightens areas that would otherwise be slightly darker if lit only from the front. This is especially true along the green sections of the leaf edge.
You actually have a great amount of detail in this stack. The gentle curve from lower left to upper right makes for a very pleasing composition.
I would strongly suggest cleaning up the debris which has reflected your front lighting to create little specular highlights. Some targeted burning to add more depth will also help. Here's my redo: |
Jan 17th |
 |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
It had perished a few hours before the shot.
The lighting is from a pair of LED reading lights that are mounted on my Macro rig. I grabbed this shot in a bit of a hurry, so didn't adjust the polarizing filter enough to remove all the specular highlights.
Yes, Affinity Photo is my preferred editor. I have used Photoshop for years, but my current computer is a bit old and really slows down when I launch Photoshop. Affinity Photo has an automatic focus stacker that works almost as good as Helicon Focus (my preferred stacking app) and sometimes even better. It does most of what Photoshop does, and some things it doesn't, for a smaller cost and no subscription. |
Jan 15th |
| 95 |
Jan 22 |
Reply |
Straight Out Of Camera |
Jan 11th |
4 comments - 4 replies for Group 95
|
11 comments - 17 replies Total
|
