Painted Turtle

[John Mack]

Came across a small group of baby painted turtles heading to the water for the first time. This image was created in Ithaca, New York on 5/3/18 at 9:43AM. Image adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Camera on sticks trigged with a remote. Manual focus with live view.

Canon 5D MarkIV
Canon 180mm 3.5L Macro USM
ISO 800
f/13
1/60sec

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi John - I saw that you also posted this in the Macro Forum which is probably more appropriate. Although I have a macro lens I don't use it often enough and can't really comment on the techs other than to say that I think I would have upped the ISO and gone for more dof.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi John, agree with Rachel, the main issue is the SS and you have the 5D, perhaps it was all in the heat of the moment :S3: but when viewed in PS it looks OK at this size, but again it's the RAW that counts? I too, like Rachel am not the right person for this, John A should hopefully add his thoughts in Macro, but I will at least have a stab.

The DoF looks OK to me with the main elements in focus, good call on using LV, few folk do. I would look at using PS to add a bit more defused environment so the subject is more isolated. Having the eye and the LH leg 'in focus' works. Using more of the LR options will add that depth with exposure etc and in PS using Curves will bring out more of the texture and detail you have, especially in the leg and the rim of the shell. Being low and at eye level is bang on, but you need a better support for the kit and if you are going to do more then I would invest in some of it to aid stability, I'm sure B&H will sell it, as I recollect someone in Avian using something that I think will help. BTW a cropped a little off the top going 16x10.

Again, purely to illustrate my comments John.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well exposed good colours. I find taking images of animals such as this can prove difficult. At first it seems easy - get in close use a tripod delay shutter MLU/cable release etc etc.......... try now to ask myself what am I trying to achieve by taking the picture, i.e. show the behavior, take a portrait, or show in the natural surroundings. All well and good of course provided things work out!.
This image looks sharp in the right place, i.e. principally the left eye. Now the question is how could it be improved - or indeed can it be improved. It's a shot of a baby turtle but how big is it - can we tell?? I think the purpose of the shot was to show this cute little guy to his best advantage (and in his surroundings perhaps?).
I would have previously taken precisely the shot you did John, but now I think I would have considered taking the shot from a greater distance, this would have afforded greater DOF, the legs would have been sharper and perhaps we would have been better able to gauge the true size by for example the surrounding leaf litter or pebbles/detritus etc. Another advantage of being further away would have been that you would have been able to use an aperture to suit the situation, i.e. you could keep most of the turtle in focus and also have a faster shutter speed, the background would have been recognizable yet inobtrusive. Like you did I would have tried as much as possible to take the image from a low angle, as a general rule of thumb eye height is usually good, in this case of course a slightly higher elevation would prove more practicable.. Hope this helps.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Jon for your input and CC to both postings. :w3

Hope I didn't interrupt this mornings shoot.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear John,

Super cute subject (never seen such a colourful little turtle) and I am curious about its size, a few cm perhaps?

Amazing little chap, pose is lovely and colours just awesome. Especially those reds. POV is great, good choice of DoF. Nice touch from Steve in terms of depth and detail. I hope you won't be upset with me for mentioning SS again, just cannot help it. You have some movement from the subject (albeit just a little) and there must be some camera movement too, so why not up the ISO to be safe?:tinysmile_shy_t: Composition works well and I really like the way the turtle's shell fades into the BG. This is a lovely image John, I thoroughly enjoyed viewing as well as reading comments above - thank you for sharing!

PS. Your frame reminds me of a certain macro lens lying in a box upstairs for some years, time to look for some bees and butterflies...

Kind regards,

[John Mack]

Dear John,

Super cute subject (never seen such a colourful little turtle) and I am curious about its size, a few cm perhaps?

Kind regards,

Thanks you Gabriela. This little guy is quite small you could hold him in your palm with no problem.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you John,

Tiny indeed!!!

Too special a sighting, so glad you shared with us:S3:

Kind regards,