Water Liliy past it's prime

[Jay Sheinfield]

I took this earlier this week, these beauties are on their last gasp. Like most of us older folk, there is still much to appreciate :).

Extended some canvass, small leaf repair, darkened BG, light balancing on the flower.
Cropped to squarish frame.



Nikon D3s
300mm
iso 400
1/60 sec @ f/11

hand held

Comments, please..................

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jay,
I like what you did with the BG and the bloom still looks like it is in pretty good shape. Water drops add a lot too. I had to go for the reading glasses just to make sure.....but it appears your focus point was on the back end of the central part of the flower?....in any case I might try to run a touch more usm and see if that does the trick......otherwise it was the 1/60 SS that probably did you in.....it is as low as I go HH'ing......but I do get more that aren't quite as sharp as when I use 1/125. given you use the D3s.....I'd push the ISO to 640 or 800 as it can handle the noise very well. Some food for thought for next time out.

[Jay Sheinfield]

yup, f/16 would have done the trick...................I was trying to keep the BG blurred, but next time I will take some shots at different apertures.....thanks

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jay,
not necessarily.....1/60 HH could could definitely be the culprit also......so just keep it in mind too! This applies mainy when you HH.

[Jay Sheinfield]

No excuses............this was my first shoot with the new Nikon 28-300vr. Apart from the technicals which I simply blew on this, as you pointed out, I was amazed at the new lens. Tack sharp at all Apertures (f/5.6 - f/16)...........for Nikon shooters that you may come in contact with, pls pass along my very high recommendations on this lens for FF shooters. This thing focuses at 15" @300mm. It works on cropped sensors as well, but the zoom range is not as useful.

[Bob Miller]

It's still holding on to its beauty isn't it! Nicely handled Jay...The sharpness doens/t look bad at all to me but then I am one of those older folks! Nice work!

[Julie Kenward]

I like it! Handheld at 1/60th might scare Roman but it doesn't bother me a bit. (Check out my spider image above this one...I handheld that at 1/40th). I think it takes practice but it CAN be done. I can see where a little more DOF at the front center would be nice but I still really like this, Jay. The BG is really sweet - very blurry but still has some color and texture to it. If anything, I'd like to see a small slice more on the right as that one petal is right at the edge of the frame and getting it all in would have been even better.

We might be past our prime but we can still have beauty for those who take the time to look. ;)

[Jay Sheinfield]

Jules...............thanks. I'm comfortable at 1/60th, fairly comfortable at 1/40th and, in a pinch will do 1/30th and rapid fire a half dozen frames where, at least one will come out sharp. Depends on how much coffee I had. ;) I agree on the DOF, and thanks for pointing out the right leaf.


Bob, thanks. I think that all of us "past our prime" soles agree, there plenty of pretty no matter the age. Just have to keep reminding the young-ins. :o

[Charles Wesley]

Jay,

Really like the composition and colors here. Understand about HH lenses. Did a little PP sharpening. Hope you don't mind. Your imagines are very well done. You're definitely helping me see better in the macro forum. Thanks so much...
_________________________

Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
http://naturesphotographs.com

[Steve Maxson]

What's this about being past our prime? Isn't that just a state of mind anyway? (OK, I'm probably indulging in a little (?) self delusion here :2eyes2:)

I like your flower, Jay - great colors and nice light. The water drops are a plus. There are some good comments regarding tweaks by Roman and Jules and I like the repost by Charles - the added sharpness does make a difference. Just to voice a different viewpoint - the texture and color of the background are just distinct enough to draw my eye there - away from your flower. :)

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks to all again for the feedback.......

Charles, nice work sharpening. I seem to have trouble sharpening without raising grain. Can you share your technique.

Steve, good viewpoint. I'm thinking about some BG work that might do the trick.

Jay

[Charles Wesley]

Jay,

I used an old program FocalBlade to selectively sharpen the center of the flower. Also used a small amount of PS/ CS 4's Smart Sharpening globally. Amount= 42, Radius=.6 Remove: lens blur and check more accurate. Look very closely at your monitor while check marking the preview button. When the preview button is checked, your image should appear sharper. I have better luck with two small passses. If the BG becomes too sharp, I make a layer mask and select the black forground and the paint tool to paint away focus where you do not want it. On a high ISO photo, I use Topaz Denoise 5.0. to remove digital grain. Did not use on your image. Hope this helps...

[Anita Bower]

This is a lovely image. The sharp flower and the blurred bg work really well. The bg is especially pleasing with the bit of color and shape. I love the light on the flower. The angle you chose is very pleasing. I especially like how the flower seems to be held in the cup of some petals. I also like the square crop.