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homestar455
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 123
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 Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:05 am Post subject: |
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@Jerry: Those are amazing, they're definitely the bar I'm going to have to shoot for this summer... If you don't mind my asking, how did you go about doing that? Are these shots relatively low magnification, then cropped, or did you just practice a lot of patience and keep shooting like crazy?
One I've been working on for awhile is getting a bee from head on as it's taking off.... That's easier said than done.
Anyone have any advice on how to go about it?
| augusthouse wrote: | homestar,
The HDR version is looking a bit 'scary'.
Just noticed you are using Gimp 2,6.7. I'm not familiar with Gimp; but found a tutorial at the link below that you might find useful when considering 'global' adjustments. (adjustments that impact entire image)
Working with masks and selections for adjusting specific areas of an image is also another skill that will prove useful in post-production.
http://world.std.com/~mmcirvin/gimp_tutorial/levels_curves.html
Did the ladybug eventually manage to take-off? |
I get what you mean, it does look a bit... unnatural.
Thanks for the link, I'll read into it.
Yeah, those are the areas I've been trying to work on learning to do better, because you're right, they've proven invaluable in editing.
Yes, after several minutes it managed to get it's wings straightened out and fly away.
| rjlittlefield wrote: | | This looks good, and I would be interested to know the details. (I am difficult to bore!) |
Thanks.
Well the rundown is, I edited the original file in gimp and made different "exposure" levels by altering the brightness of the image. Then once I had the exposures I ran them through photomatix (the HDR software I use) and ended up with this (note the specular reflection is normal in that version), which I edited in GIMP to paste the original head to the new body. Resulting in this.
The final touches (which ultimately lead to the pink specular reflection) were to desaturate and darken the red values, and to minimize the noise with a little anisotropic smoothing. (essentially the opposite of the unsharp mask) Which lead to the picture you've already seen.
I think the color shifts were mainly caused by the fact that I accidentally overdid the saturation and brightness in the settings for making the HDR, then the fact that I intentionally manipulated the colors to try and normalize them.
Sorry in advance if this is poorly written, I'm half asleep right now. lol |
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JerryMK
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 28
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:41 am Post subject: |
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| homestar455 wrote: | | @Jerry: Those are amazing, they're definitely the bar I'm going to have to shoot for this summer... If you don't mind my asking, how did you go about doing that? Are these shots relatively low magnification, then cropped, or did you just practice a lot of patience and keep shooting like crazy? |
 Hi, these shots are full resolution macro's. No crop at all. I observed the ladybugs flying and discovered the pattern. Then it was a matter of very very very good timing taking the shot. I used a Panasonic G1 with a FD adapter and a Canon 100mm f4 macro attached for these shots. The only thing crazy about it was me crawling around in my garden to get these shots 
_________________
G1, lumix vario 14-140, lots of Canon FD's, C mount, and other manual focus prime lenses. My favorites: Tokina ATX 90mm f2.5 and Kiron 105mm F2.8
http://flickriver.com/photos/elchivato/popular-interesting/ |
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rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 12593
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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| homestar455 wrote: |
Well the rundown is, I edited the original file in gimp and made different "exposure" levels by altering the brightness of the image. Then once I had the exposures I ran them through photomatix (the HDR software I use) and ended up with http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff41/timboms/ev_0_-_tonemapped.jpg (note the specular reflection is normal in that version), which I edited in GIMP to paste the original head to the new body. Resulting in http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff41/timboms/edited-ladybug.jpg .
The final touches (which ultimately lead to the pink specular reflection) were to desaturate and darken the red values, and to minimize the noise with a little anisotropic smoothing. (essentially the opposite of the unsharp mask) Which lead to the picture you've already seen.
I think the color shifts were mainly caused by the fact that I accidentally overdid the saturation and brightness in the settings for making the HDR, then the fact that I intentionally manipulated the colors to try and normalize them. |
Thanks for the details -- very helpful.
It is interesting to see all these versions. I notice that in the first ev_0_-_tonemapped image, the elbow of the wing retains its red coloration, but this has mostly vanished in the next edited-ladybug. You wrote that the desaturation and darkening were done in a later step, but I wonder if some were done between the first two steps as well?
--Rik |
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homestar455
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 123
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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| JerryMK wrote: |
Hi, these shots are full resolution macro's. No crop at all. I observed the ladybugs flying and discovered the pattern. Then it was a matter of very very very good timing taking the shot. I used a Panasonic G1 with a FD adapter and a Canon 100mm f4 macro attached for these shots. The only thing crazy about it was me crawling around in my garden to get these shots |
Nice, though I don't have a garden, so this could prove especially crazy. lol
| rjlittlefield wrote: |
Thanks for the details -- very helpful.
It is interesting to see all these versions. I notice that in the first ev_0_-_tonemapped image, the elbow of the wing retains its red coloration, but this has mostly vanished in the next edited-ladybug. You wrote that the desaturation and darkening were done in a later step, but I wonder if some were done between the first two steps as well?
--Rik |
No problem.
Oh yes, come to think of it, I might have gotten overenthusiastic while editing, and desaturated the red out of the elbow... It's a simple matter to resaturate it if you think it'd look better with the color intact? |
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rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 12593
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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| homestar455 wrote: | | It's a simple matter to resaturate it if you think it'd look better with the color intact? |
It's just a question of whether the image accurately represents the subject. The original photos seem to show that this beetle really does have a red leading edge on part of its wing. Removing that bit of red, while leaving red elsewhere, changes the appearance of the subject in a way that might (for example) cause one species to be mistaken for another.
In the posting guidelines, we summarize this way: any enhancements that alter the "naturalness" of the subject must be declared in the image post.
Probably this does not matter for the current images, but it's an issue to keep in the back of the mind whenever editing images.
--Rik |
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homestar455
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 123
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| Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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| rjlittlefield wrote: | | homestar455 wrote: | | It's a simple matter to resaturate it if you think it'd look better with the color intact? |
It's just a question of whether the image accurately represents the subject. The original photos seem to show that this beetle really does have a red leading edge on part of its wing. Removing that bit of red, while leaving red elsewhere, changes the appearance of the subject in a way that might (for example) cause one species to be mistaken for another.
In the posting guidelines, we summarize this way: any enhancements that alter the "naturalness" of the subject must be declared in the image post.
Probably this does not matter for the current images, but it's an issue to keep in the back of the mind whenever editing images.
--Rik |
Actually to be honest, I thought it was an unnatural side effect of the HDR, (an alteration to the "naturalness") until you pointed it out. Or I probably wouldn't have removed it. Because I'm not one for altering the naturalness of a photo to begin with. |
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