[Vik]

love the detail, the translucency - nice shot

[EdMak]

A cracker Dean, and, well spotted. Ed.

[Dean]

Thanks, Ed, Vik.

[Barbara G.]

Nice Dean! Thanks for sharing with us!

[snaphappy]

Hello everyone. I am discovering close up photography and thought I would share my photos with you. Feel free to comment, it would be appreciated as I am new to this.

[Dean]

I also have only just started out on macro so for what its worth here’s my view.
Some nice images. I take it that you were using a telephoto lens, zoomed in, for the butterfly. Not quiet sharp from tip to tail but a good try. Do you know where the focus point was on this image? If so have a look and it may be that you have focused a little bit behind the butterfly. The flower is in focus almost throughout, when it doesn’t need to be.
Nice depth of field in the teasel image. You could have chosen a bit smaller aperture (increase f number) as again, not all of the teasel heads are in focus, and the background is far enough away not to be affected.
I like the rape flowers. You can remove the colour cast and boost the green stem and it looks rather nice.
I know what the bottom flower is but can’t remember its name. Again you could have gone for a small aperture and increased the depth of field a little

[snaphappy]

Hello everyone. I am discovering close up photography and thought I would share my photos with you. Feel free to comment, it would be appreciated as I am new to this.

Sorry forgot to give any details of these photos. Thet were all taken with a canon 1100d. The Butterfly was f/13, exp 1.640 with focal length 420mm. The rape flower was f/5.6 exp. 1/250 & focal length 55mm, the bullrushes were f5.6, exp 1/640 nd focal length 100mm. Lastly the orchid was f5.6, exp 1/60sec and 55mm focal length.

[EdMak]

Butterfly is my preference, next 2 need a bit of punch, Dean got it all right, to me.

Spent a couple of minutes on Butterfly, trimmed it to take away the "Glare", and sharpened/tightened it Up a bit. You were not far away. Great first efforts. Ed.

[snaphappy]

Butterfly is my preference, next 2 need a bit of punch, Dean got it all right, to me.

Spent a couple of minutes on Butterfly, trimmed it to take away the "Glare", and sharpened/tightened it Up a bit. You were not far away. Great first efforts. Ed.

Thank you for your comments Ed. The butterfly does look a lot better, but what do you mean by tightening and how do you do it please. I haven't got to grips with photo editing too much yet.

[EdMak]

To me, the image looked a bit flat, (lacked contrast), most software will give you the option to increase brightness/contrast, and, sharpen. I used P/S, to do both. Working on Forum Pics, which are small file size, does not do justice, editing the original file, would produce much better results. What do you use. I did try the rape flower, but the overall yellowness mad it a bit of the sameness. I then tried, just learning, to tone map it, still reading/watching tutorials, this was about a 10 mts. attempt. Did use P/S initially. Comments??? Regards. Ed.

[Dean]

    I think you did a good job with the butterfly, Ed. Really brought out the potential of the original image. However, I don’t think that “tone mapping” works for the rape flower. Personal view, but i think flowers are best left on the soft side, as they are in real life. I also played with it a bit, boosted the detail, took a bit of the colour cast away, and added a bit of a vignette, to keep a subtle look.
Dean
I am into vignettes this week!

[Vik]

This was my take on a Teasel - didn't even realise the snail was there until I got the pic into the comp

[Dean]

That is really nice, Vik. Only adverse comment would be the top of the teasel in the top left hand corner. Draws the eye away from the main subject. You could either clone it out or crop more tightly. The two stems frame the teasel head nicely. I like it.
Dean

[EdMak]

Definitely prefer yours to mine Dean, good one. Ed.

[EdMak]

Great Vik, and, agree with Dean re clone, to me. crop would make it an "Odd" size. Ed.

[Vik]

thank you for your very constructive comments

I still have hassles with cloning, but I'll see what I can do

[snaphappy]

I think you did a good job with the butterfly, Ed. Really brought out the potential of the original image. However, I don’t think that “tone mapping” works for the rape flower. Personal view, but i think flowers are best left on the soft side, as they are in real life. I also played with it a bit, boosted the detail, took a bit of the colour cast away, and added a bit of a vignette, to keep a subtle look.
Dean
I am into vignettes this week!

I agree the butterfly looks a lot better. I prefer your version of the rape flower Dean, but your description of what you did is way over my head. What is tone mapping and how do you take the colour cast away. I have a lot to learn, not just with my camera but also in photo editing. Thanks everyone, I shall carry on reading and watching tutorials.

[Dean]

Tone mapping seems to be all the rage at the moment. Most images end up very gritty. Less is better in my mind. Best Google it rather than me try to explain. I don’t have the software to do it either. Again, removing a colour cast is easy and depends upon which software you are using. Lots of tutorials on the net.

[john hen]

found this little porcelain fungus in the woods today. It is only about 12mm across.

love it
What sort of equipment did you use.
The black background is what makes the shot IMO

[Dean]

found this little porcelain fungus in the woods today. It is only about 12mm across.

love it
What sort of equipment did you use.
The black background is what makes the shot IMO

Thanks, John. I have a Canon 60D ( APS-C sensor) with a Canon 100mm macro lens. Lucky that the background was so much in shade that day, with just a bit of sunlight filtering down from above.

[Vik]

a friend of mine, taken on a Nikon d80 with an 18-135 lens

(stuck this one in just for a laugh)

[Korry]

a friend of mine, taken on a Nikon d80 with an 18-135 lens

(stuck this one in just for a laugh)

Nice one, Vik! Have you tried moving your friend from the center to the right a bit? I mean, I understand that person like that has to be in the center, but I was just thinking it might look even more better that way

[Dean]

a friend of mine, taken on a Nikon d80 with an 18-135 lens

(stuck this one in just for a laugh)

just shows what you can do without a dedicated macro lens.

[Vik]

[/quote]

Nice one, Vik! Have you tried moving your friend from the center to the right a bit? I mean, I understand that person like that has to be in the center, but I was just thinking it might look even more better that way
[/quote]

You have a point, but if I ask him to move, he might hit me...

[johnytrout]

This dragonfly was settled on the peg of our washing line