Mitch Haimov
03-28-2011, 07:17 PM
Last summer and fall I experimented making close-up images of various flowers, generally with magnifications greater than 1-to-1 and, in most cases, shall DOF. In most cases, the flower completely fills the frame and extends beyond it on all sides. This calla lily was one of my first attempts. Here are the technical details:
Canon EOS 5D with Canon 180 mm macro lens, Kenko extension tubes, and tripod support;
0.4 seconds at f/3.5
ISO 100
Manual focus, shutter spead, and aperture
RAW capture converted with flourescent white balance
Potted plant in an office building under flourescent lighting
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5176/5569196705_239b69d9ac_b.jpg
Although not planned when making the exposures, I found that I had two similar compositions that I prefer stitched as a vertical panorama. Combining the two only extended the image a small amount, but allowed me to blend the sharp portions of both to generate an image that is sharp everywhere I want it to be while retaining the shallow DOF I was after (I had other exposures with smaller apertures, but they brought too much of the image into focus). The only other Photoshop work other than the RAW conversion was a some cloning to help the two images blend together and to fill in a narrow vertical rectangle in the upper right because the upper image was a little to the left of the lower and I did not want to crop from the right. The colors are faithful to the calla lily.
This is the first image I am posting on BPN and I am curious to receive feedback (negative and positive). Non-photographers with whom I have shared it have generally really liked it or really not. Thanks!
Canon EOS 5D with Canon 180 mm macro lens, Kenko extension tubes, and tripod support;
0.4 seconds at f/3.5
ISO 100
Manual focus, shutter spead, and aperture
RAW capture converted with flourescent white balance
Potted plant in an office building under flourescent lighting
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5176/5569196705_239b69d9ac_b.jpg
Although not planned when making the exposures, I found that I had two similar compositions that I prefer stitched as a vertical panorama. Combining the two only extended the image a small amount, but allowed me to blend the sharp portions of both to generate an image that is sharp everywhere I want it to be while retaining the shallow DOF I was after (I had other exposures with smaller apertures, but they brought too much of the image into focus). The only other Photoshop work other than the RAW conversion was a some cloning to help the two images blend together and to fill in a narrow vertical rectangle in the upper right because the upper image was a little to the left of the lower and I did not want to crop from the right. The colors are faithful to the calla lily.
This is the first image I am posting on BPN and I am curious to receive feedback (negative and positive). Non-photographers with whom I have shared it have generally really liked it or really not. Thanks!