Night Blooming Cereus

[Mitch Haimov]

Canon EOS 3, Tamron 90 mm macro lens, tripod. Settings not recorded. BG is a camera bag. Natural light (open shade).

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5189/5663246024_03ce0a2ee3_b.jpg

I attempted some targeted sharpening on the tip at LR but that seemed to introduce more noise than sharpening, even with a very high threshold. Perhaps there is a better approach than USM?

All comments and suggestions always welcome and appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Mitch:

Like the transillumination of the central petal, nice detail there. It really stands out against the camera bag background.

You may just not have enough to work with re: sharpening the RLC, and because of how the upper leaf is cropped, I might consider cropping in from the right and eliminating the tip of the lower petal, just back to where it joins the lower frame edge. I think this would focus our attention even more strongly on the central petal.

I am not a macro guy, but that is how it struck me.

Cheers

Randy

[Brendan Dozier]

I like the abstract comp and black BG works well, Mitch. Good details on the central petal, but wanting it to be a bit sharper. Not sure regrading NR issue, but you may want to try out other NR programs. Randy gives good crop suggestion.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Mitch. I like the detail around the edge of the central petal as well as the diagonal comp. I think Randy's crop suggestion has merit as my eye keeps bouncing between the central petal and the LRC - I might crop just a bit more than what Randy suggests. :S3: If you wanted to totally emphasize the central petal, you could crop up from the bottom till you remove the reddish brown area - just a thought.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Mitch, I think the crop(s) mentioned have merit.....as Steve says, they would definitely emphasize the central petal which is the best part of this capture. Have you ever played around with high pass sharpening? It definitely has its place and it doesn't add as much noise as other forms of sharpening. Let me know if you need more info. :S3:

[Michel Pilon]

Hello Mitch,

I can just agree with all those great comments from my predecessors. Randy suggestion seems interesting bringing the focus on the central petal. For the accentuation I now only use selective sharpening which, in my opinion, brings less noise...

Cheers and TFS,

Michel

[Mitch Haimov]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! I've been tied up lately, but here (finally) is a repost incorporating the suggestions above. It also represents my first attempt at high pass sharpening (or any sharpening other than USM, for that matter).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3487/5701279177_672b793c69_b.jpg

[Mitch Haimov]

And here is a second repost, incorporating the same changes as above, plus a minor warp to the right end of the lower petal to keep the right edge clean. I'm curious as to preferences between the two reposts. Thanks!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2503/5701846912_ab316e5a78_b.jpg

[Brendan Dozier]

I prefer the second repost, Mitch. I also just noticed that the middle petal looks like a feather. I think the stronger curve in the lower petal compliments the curve of the middle petal better and makes the black space work better compositionally.
The sharpening seems to look better on the upper and R part of the middle petal. Not sure on the exact look you are after, but some curves and destaturation of middle petal may give it more impact.

[Mitch Haimov]

Thanks again, Brendan. I like your desaturation idea. Have already played with curves prior to OP. Perhaps I need to improve my PS skills. (Actually, I know I do.)