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Jerry van Dijk
11-25-2008, 03:26 PM
Panasonic DMC-FZ18, handheld (IS), 56 mm (336 mm DSLR equivalent), ISO-100, F/8, 1/200 sec., pattern metering, aperture priority, EC -1. Increased contrast, saturation of the greens and sharpened.

Took loads of pictures of these lotus leafs in the local botanical garden (for a close-up, see the ETL forum). The pond water was very dark, but still had a lot of disturbing reflections of the glasshouse. To get rid of them, I significantly increased contrast, rendering the water nearly black. Although it did the trick, I'm not sure if I am happy with the overall result. It kind of makes the leafs look like they float in mid-air:confused:. All in all, I do like this image because of the repetitive composition, the green-black combination and those wonderful droplets on the front leaf. Let me know what you think!;)

- Jerry -

Julie Kenward
11-25-2008, 07:39 PM
They do look more like flying saucers than lotus leaves but I do like the image. I think the front leaf has a bit of a weird "glow" to it - maybe a color imbalance from all the adjustments in pp? I'd leave the water dark but maybe select the other two pads and bring them up just a little bit with a shadow/highlight or levels adjustment so they have a bit more detail to them. Overall, I like the composition but think it would have been even stronger if you had stood to the left side a bit more and made the image trail back at an angle.

Mike Moats
11-25-2008, 09:34 PM
Hey Jerry, I like the image, nice light and colors and I don't mind the black water. I agree with Jules about the positioning, it would have been nice to run the three on an angle.

Jerry van Dijk
11-26-2008, 03:35 AM
Close encounters of the third kind :D!
I agree with Julie regarding the "glow" now that I'm on another monitor. I was already in doubt whether I had pushed the saturation too far. The glow might also be a result of the reflection of the leaf edges that still shows in the water.
Reg. the composition: standing more to the left was not an option because of the pond edge. Because of the uniform BG, it is easy to move the leaves around in the frame. Because I recognised the possibly more powerful composition you suggest here, I already tried this, but was not happy with the results. I'll give it another go and keep you posted!
Thanks for the comments!

- Jerry -

Kaushik Balakumar
11-26-2008, 05:24 AM
The leaf in front looks lovely with the droplets on it. The saturation seems fine to me but the hues are a bit off - the green looks slightly blueish. Brightening up the other 2 leaves a bit more might be good too IMHO.

Jerry van Dijk
11-29-2008, 03:37 PM
Hey there, thanks again for your input! I've been moving leaves around and fiddling with hue and saturation. This is the result, hope you like this better. Kaushik, these leaves naturally have a blueish cast over them, which I tried to repair by increasing saturation on the greens, probably resulting in an unnatural look. I have kept back a little in the repost, see how it works for you.
- Jerry -