Spider - Composite

[Linwood Ferguson]

This is my first attempt with a combination of Lightroom 3 Beta 2 plus CS5.

I went to Six Mile cypress today, and no birds (ok, one Cardinal who came and laughed at me behind the leaves). So experimented with an off-camera flash and one poor spider who is probably now blind.

This is not a particularly interesting shot, but I seek advice on the editing. The shot is a composite of two -- the wings and dragonfly tail were out of focus in the primary shot, so they are edited in from a different, scaled and arranged to align. The web that is dim was almost non-existent due to the lighting, and has been brought out by a layer mask, curves and a bit of selective color (though it has dropped out a bit, I see, in the jpg also).

My real question is about the edits. Do they show artifacts? Would you have noticed?

If anyone wants to see the full resolution it is here:

http://captivephotons.com/Nature/Six...57_FRg9k-O.jpg


Shot was with a D300, 200-400 F4 @ f16 with 1.4x TC (550mm), 250th second with a SB800 about 4' to the left at about 90 degrees on full, manual. It was quite windy so most shots were blurred from movement despite the flash, and depth of field was quite a challange. The shots over f16 were not sharp (luck of motion? I was counting on those).

[Dave Mills]

Hi Ferguson, No artifacts that I can see. You would have fooled me regarding your manipulation. You created a keeper image that is indeed interesting once you study it for awhile. All important areas seem to be in focus noting you shot this at F16 and a telec which really slowed you down. You did a most competent job in combining images...

[arash_hazeghi]

If you had not described what you had done, I would not have been able to tell! great work

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent PS work and you did the best possible from your position !! I like the idea of blending for obtaining the dof .. worked well !!

For these the flash can be good and bad ... I like way you were able to shoot at f16 and darken the bg but it did create glare from the bug !! Did real good on this one !!!

[Linwood Ferguson]

Thanks. What I hoped the flash would do is show off the web and translucent aspects of the spider, but it was hard getting a good angle for that. I may try this again another time, with a second flash, so I can get more light but from different directions so as not to have individual hot spots.

What I really need is to do it out of the wind, so I can tell when blur is me, vs. movement.

Thanks for the comments.

PS. CS5 is a lot like CS3 except the content aware stuff (which did not help here), but LR3 is MUCH improved in raw processing, noise, etc. Now that I am playing with both together I am very happy with the combination.

[Alfred Forns]

Agree on all points !!! btw for macro work in general using a diffuser is about the best for lighting then use the flash for filling in at a low setting !! With the diffuse you can work in blazing sun !!! I use the big round ones and connect to tripod or other stands !!

Spiders are tough since they are always shaded and hard to reach places. Do a lot of them and have fewer keepers than any other macro subject !!! Best have been with no wind so I can use a long exposure !!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ferguson, I think you did a very nice job with the composite and I definitely would not have known. The full-res version is a real eye-popper!! One comment is that my eye wants to see that OOF web element in the LLC get connected to the rest of the web. With your skills you could put a line of web filament between the front legs to make it connect. Super work!