Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Yellow Flower

  1. #1
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    West Nottingham, PA, USA
    Posts
    7,038
    Threads
    427
    Thank You Posts

    Default Yellow Flower

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    This is one of my attempts to capture a sharp flower against a blurred and colorful background. I like the BG, but the flower is not as sharp as I would like. Perhaps it was due to not focusing properly.

    Konica-Minolta 5D, 100mm Minolta macro lens, f8, 1/125 sec., ISO 100, manual pattern metering, manual focus, tripod, WB daylight.

  2. #2
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    6,829
    Threads
    569
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Anita...I see you used a macro lense which has a minimal depth of field. You focused on the front petals and did not have enough depth of field to cover the whole image. You also set the f stop to F8 which caused you to get a minimal depth of field at that stop. Try shooting at F 22 or higher if your lense permits. For this type of image even at f22 you will probably not get sharpness throughout. If you want a macro image to be sharp throughout(without using PS) try and shoot your subject on a parallel plane to the lense. The more depth in your image...the more chances part of the image will blur.

  3. #3
    Julie Kenward
    Guest

    Default

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Dave is right, Anita...macro lenses have low DOF. If you want the entire image to be sharp, try focusing on the center and then stop down that aperture. You can always blur the BG more in pp if you want.

    I downloaded your image and tried a pano crop as I think you have way too much BG going on. Yes, I know...when it's this pretty you want to leave it all in...but remember that your focal point is the flower NOT the background.

    I added some more sharpening and did a levels and curves adjustment to make the flower pop a bit more. It's just a suggestion for an alternative crop. Also, it's always nice to have a little more stem in the image if possible. Okay, here you go:

  4. #4
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    23,119
    Threads
    1,523
    Thank You Posts
    Blog Entries
    55

    Default

    Anita, I love the BG colors in the orig. but Julie's sharpening looks good-agree w/ less space on top of flower.

  5. #5
    Mike Moats
    Guest

    Default

    Hey Anita, I like the comp on this one and the nice Monet feel to it. The comp is totally different than the norm, but I like it.

  6. #6
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    West Nottingham, PA, USA
    Posts
    7,038
    Threads
    427
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments!

    I should have given Tony Sweet credit for the idea for this photo. See here

    I would prefer to do my BG blurring in camera as I'm not particularly patient nor skilled at delicate photoshop work, though Jules' suggestions are helping me.

    Jules, what did you do to sharpen the center more? I tried using unsharp mask, but didn't get the results you did.

    Anita :-)

  7. #7
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    West Nottingham, PA, USA
    Posts
    7,038
    Threads
    427
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Jules:

    This is my version of more sharpening. Thanks for all your help!!!!

  8. #8
    Julie Kenward
    Guest

    Default

    Anita, that looks much better, don't you think? What you did sure worked!

  9. #9
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    West Nottingham, PA, USA
    Posts
    7,038
    Threads
    427
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Yes, Jules, I do think it looks sharper. I also adjusted the contrast. I'm keeping the initial crop because I like it.

    Many thanks!!!!!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics