Lirio

thartl · Post by **thartl** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:26 pm

An interesting flower - color was bit off for me in the large view.

Canon5dmkii KenkoTubes,135mm, reversed 50mm, 1/200, ISO 100, f8, stacked using zerene stacker.

This one looks way better cropped vertical, but I left it horizontal for this post:

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:27 pm

Lovely! I'd say you're getting the hang of this extreme macro stuff.

--Rik

thartl · Post by **thartl** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:42 pm

Thanks Rik - always so positive. Someone today looked at them (outside of this forum who from what I know doesn't take photos) began critiquing composition, and I started to defend it, saying the only one I spent time with composition was the stamen only and how that wasn't the focus of this series - and then I thought ah they won't get it anyway so I shut up. So thanks for the positive words!

For future reference, feel free to hack away if they can be better!

morfa · Post by **morfa** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 1:52 am

Excellent series Tyler! The quality is brilliant!

Getting critique from non-photographers can be frustrating at times but I definitely think it's wise to expose yourself to it once in a while. No matter how "wrong" they are it can often be rewarding in some way or another. For instance, you might find they have point – OR, you might discover that you are of the opposite opinion and the awareness of such opinions is likely to become useful sometime.

thartl · Post by **thartl** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:31 am

morfa wrote:Excellent series Tyler! The quality is brilliant!

Getting critique from non-photographers can be frustrating at times but I definitely think it's wise to expose yourself to it once in a while. No matter how "wrong" they are it can often be rewarding in some way or another. For instance, you might find they have point – OR, you might discover that you are of the opposite opinion and the awareness of such opinions is likely to become useful sometime.

Yeah I agree - it was only slightly frustrating - but then I thought - you know they are just being helpful and to be honest I can always do better!

Thanks for your positive words too!

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 12:28 pm

thartl wrote:Thanks Rik - always so positive.
...
For future reference, feel free to hack away if they can be better!

"Lovely" is not one of the words I use when I'm struggling to be positive. I have others I use for that.

I really do like these, especially the first and third. As you say, the second would better as vertical, but it's a nice zooming-in sequence, and I like the detail and colors on the stigma in the third one.

From a technical standpoint, I don't see anything going awry, and since there are three images here, I figure that's not luck.

I'm looking forward to the next batch.

--Rik

thartl · Post by **thartl** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:05 pm

rjlittlefield wrote:
thartl wrote:Thanks Rik - always so positive.
...
For future reference, feel free to hack away if they can be better!
"Lovely" is not one of the words I use when I'm struggling to be positive. I have others I use for that.

I really do like these, especially the first and third. As you say, the second would better as vertical, but it's a nice zooming-in sequence, and I like the detail and colors on the stigma in the third one.

From a technical standpoint, I don't see anything going awry, and since there are three images here, I figure that's not luck.

I'm looking forward to the next batch.

--Rik

Its all appreciated here either way -

I put the cameras aside for the weekend in an effort to focus on relaxing and enjoying family. Hopefully have something new for next week. Heres an addition though just for fun - had a different vision in my head but didn't get the shot I thought I would. Too much diffraction imo.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:20 am

Shots with hard-edged specular reflections are often hard to stack because of halos, even with PMax.

You can soften the edges of the reflections somewhat by positioning a diffuser a little bit in front of your flash units, say an inch or so. Sometimes this will reduce the halos. On the other hand you might not like the effect of softer edges.

There is also a technique using crossed polarizers that can selectively cut the intensity of the specular reflections, compared to the brightness of everything else. See http://www.naturescapes.net/042004/wh0404.htm for a good description of the technique, and http://photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4093 for some more details about polarizer effects on reflections.

--Rik