Magnolia blossom

[Cheryl Flory]

Canon 40D
Tamron 17-50mm at 50mm

manual exposure at 1/40", f10, and ISO 100

nearly all magnolia tree blossoms are gone--frost killed, but I found one within reach. I do have more petals in the image, which I like, but then the center seemed less significant. cloned out petal blemishes, and saturated.

heavy overcast day, no lighting added. I would have liked to get the center totally in front of a petal, but couldn't get managed and still get between the opening between the front two petals.

IF this blossom makes it through tonight, which looks doubtful, what are you suggestions for getting a better image tomorrow??

when saving, I had to set quality to 83 percent to get it to fit guidelines. Would it be better to reduce an image in size? or reduce it in quality to get within the size limitations?

Thank you for looking, and any comments and critiques!

[Julie Kenward]

Very pretty, Cheryl! Two suggestions...bring the whites under control - you do have a small spike on the right side of the histogram and I believe it's showing no detail in some of the petals. Remember that bright white is nice but seeing the small details in the flowers (you can see them in the tip areas of the petals here but not so much at the base area) is really important.

Also, I'd back down on the sharpening just a bit - the center feels almost brittle. It's a beautiful composition - if you get another chance I'd take the same position but try f8 or f5.6 and see if you get a little less BG with all the center detail.

When I upload a heavily detailed image I go for smaller file size and keep the quality. I rarely upload anything lower than 10 - instead, I take my crop down an inch or so to get it to fit within the quality range I prefer.

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanks, Julie.
I checked levels in processing and the whites were not overexposed. they are bright white in these blossoms. but are you saying I should still tone them down when making an image?

I agree that the center is over sharpened. I see that now.

Thanks!

[Steve Bein]

You identified my only nit. If you have another chance, try removing the petal so you can center in front of the back petal. Nicely done

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanks, Steve. I did think about that, but thought the huge gap would look too fake.

[Ken Childs]

The whites look OK to me but the over sharpening is really my only complaint. I never would have thought of referring to it as making it look "brittle" but that definitely fits. :)

[Julie Kenward]

Cheryl, did you check your original file or the file you posted here? I'm only asking because when I downloaded this image, opened it in PS, and opened levels there is a definite small spike on the right of the histogram. It's not terrible but it IS there. Sometimes we process the RAW file and it's okay and then we play with curves a bit in Photoshop and it pushes the whites to the wall again. It's not bad, mind you, and I do like how white the whites are - just didn't want you to miss details!

[Cheryl Flory]

Julie, Oh, I'm not arguing with you. :D You certainly know so much more than I do on this! That is why I am posting here, to learn. I checked the levels in Photoshop just before sharpening, because it did look very bright to me. The whites were close, but not over. Could my over sharpening increase the whites a bit?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Cheryl,
If you take your OP....and right clicl it to save as.....post it on the desktop and then open it in PS......the whites are definitely clipped. Shapening does affet this.....so it may have happened there. As mods we can only download the OP and make assesment on that.....I have the same histogram that Jules saw.....probably an easy fix in revisiting the RAW file. Besides the sharpness already mentioned.....crop off top and proportional off right....keeping the negative spaces more equal.....strengthens the comp overall.....overall, nicely composed!

[Cheryl Flory]

I need to check my images after sharpening also. then, especially when I know the whites are so close.
thanks for letting me know.

when you say revisiting in RAW, are you talking at the end of processing?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Cheryl,
If your whites are in range in the RAW file.....then you lost them in PP'ing. Many ways to do that.....every contrast boost (LCE, selective color, curves, combo of all) can put whites over the top.....last culprit.....sharpening.......so if you make all corrections and they are close to borderline....sharpening will put them over the top! Jpeg compression will also get you there......so yo need to be pretty far off B4 converting. Make sense??? Very different from making an image for print. If you search the educational resources.....there are a few posts on saving whites and optimizing for web.....if I have a chance i will send the link......so busy this weekend....hope someone beats me to it!:D

[Gail Spitler]

Great discussion - I certainly gained a lot and will be pursuing the posts in Educational Resources forum.
Thanks for posting this one Cheryl

Cheers
Gail

[Cheryl Flory]

how about this adjustment?
I lowered the exposure on the whites a little, and less sharpening.
is it enough?

[Cheryl Flory]

rats. it wasn't enough. I forgot to check the levels after sharpening before posting. :o
turns out I didn't lowered the whites enough. so lowered again.
how about this? promise, no more tries after this....