bnk1953
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 184 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by bnk1953 on Aug 9, 2018 22:04:24 GMT
Any suggestions on editing/cropping, etc are most welcome. Nikon D7500, 300 mm, iso 200, f/125, f/8, EV-1  |
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Post by Bailey on Aug 9, 2018 23:39:37 GMT
Hi bnk1953,
That is one spectacular and amazing photo !! 
By "Any suggestions......" do you mean just written posted suggestions or can we download your image, play with it and repost any edits with suggestions/feedback?
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bnk1953
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 184
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by bnk1953 on Aug 9, 2018 23:58:34 GMT
Do whatever pushes your shutter release  |
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Post by Sydney on Aug 10, 2018 1:15:03 GMT
One has to see that image in full size to realise how crystal clear it is. Wow, amazing! Personally, I like it as it is.
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Post by Bailey on Aug 10, 2018 2:38:28 GMT
Hi bnk1953,
I agree with Sydney's comment Also, this type of photo, if it was mine, is definitely one I would consider making a large sized print and putting it in my cousin's picture framing store. I'm sure it would have no problem selling. I have no idea if you have already or intend to make a print but this is the process I normally go through, so please take this as just my 2c worth of food for thought. I would play with the 3 channels in a Levels Adjustment Layer and/or Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to adjust the colour tones in the bokeh background to see if I could get the droplets to pop even more. A must-do for me before printing is to view the image at 100%. When I view your image at 100% it appears you applied some localised extra sharpening around the droplets because I see a little noise around them. I don't see the noise when viewed in the browser, so for online display the image as is should be ok. But from early experiences, if I printed your image on an A3+ (329mm x 483mm) sheet on my Epson SC P600 printer I can guarantee the noise around the droplets would be visible and so spoil the print. On a small sized print, you might be able to get away with the image as is, but for a large print I would definitely clean up the noise first. Hopefully you can see the noise on the image below or its enlargement. If not, open your image in PSE and view it at 100% around the droplets and you should see the noise I am referring to. But as I said in my previous post and also mentioned by Sydney, you have one really spectacular photo there |
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bnk1953
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 184
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by bnk1953 on Aug 10, 2018 13:55:08 GMT
Thanks for the insights Bailey. You are correct on the extra sharpening - I am in the process of doing each drop individually (talk about time consuming). The noise doesn't seem to appear (even tho we know its there) on a 8X10 Red River Paper Polar Metallic Pearl - but it would show up if I went bigger. I also agree on the levels adjustment and will give that a try. What about cropping? Is the plant on the left too "heavy" or does it help set the scene. I've thought about cropping it similar to what you have in the photo above - but also thought that would take away "where it was taken" and give some reference. I've about 30 photos from that morning outing with all kinds of flowers. I'm also working on a cone flower with heavy dew drops hanging from a couple of the petals. It was a photographing bonanza for me. Thats what it means to get out at 6 AM in a heavy fog.
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Post by whippet on Aug 10, 2018 13:57:51 GMT
Amazing, bnk.
It looks like a crystal necklace.
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bnk1953
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 184
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by bnk1953 on Aug 10, 2018 13:58:45 GMT
thanks Michael - I almost missed it where i was walking in the flowers. I looked back at the last second and had to get down on my knees to see it hidden in the flower stems.
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Post by kdcintx on Aug 10, 2018 21:55:49 GMT
I like the string of dew drops hanging down and wouldn't crop them out. Perhaps you could try cropping out a little of the stem on the left side just to see how it looks, but it looks good to me as it is.
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Post by Bailey on Aug 11, 2018 1:05:00 GMT
Thanks for the insights Bailey.......... ..... no problem bnk1953 Regarding cropping, yes maybe cropping out a bit of the plant would help accentuate the real subject of the image - the droplets.
Maybe something like this, but I would normally try different crops and choose which works best. In this example I deliberately left only 2 droplets falling off the main part in an attempt to create a feeling of "mystery", wondering if there are more droplets and where are they falling to.
The plant on the left, for me, acts a bit like a barrier and frame which tends to push the eyes back to the centre of the image which is where you would want viewers' eyes to focus on.
The plant also, like you mentioned, gives context to the location of the droplets. You could also try a tight crop with just the droplets and bokeh background which would really put the "spotlight" on the droplets.
The possibilities for editing and cropping are only limited by your imagination and so it really boils down to what effect you want to create. I don't know what size final print you are planning to make (you mentioned 8x10) but a imho a large sized print will look stunning. Hope this helps |
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Post by PeteB on Aug 11, 2018 3:05:18 GMT
Bruce My thoughts on the image. Thanks for allowing me to play with your image.  |
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Post by Bailey on Aug 11, 2018 4:26:47 GMT
Hi again bnk1953, and regarding playing with the Levels and Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers, here I just moved the white point marker of the red channel in Levels to the left to where the channel data actually ends and I set the hue slider in the Yellows channel in Hue/Saturation to -20. Playing with the above adjustments (with or without masking elements) you can give the image a feeling of as much warmth or coolness as you like. But I feel the droplets, after your sharpening of them, would probably need to be masked out of any tonal/colour adjustments, which I haven't done here. You could play with this ad infinitum. To my eyes, the droplets now pop a bit more than in the original, but maybe that's just my eyes and/or computer screen |
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bnk1953
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 184
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by bnk1953 on Aug 11, 2018 18:00:07 GMT
I don't think I should "mask out" due to the reflections in the droplets would not match up with what is behind them (the adjusted warmth). In a real close look of the original photo (the posted 1 was reduced in size) you can actually see the flower field (albeit upside down) in each droplet. I might print a 17X25 on my Epson SureColor P800 - so this might be easily picked up when printing that large.
I agree that this is one of those you can play with in so many ways - which can make it fun but also tedious. I'm also considering a portrait crop versus the horizontal.
Thanks to all for compliments and suggestions - "a village can make a photo"
~bruce.
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Post by Peterj on Aug 11, 2018 20:14:46 GMT
Thanks for the offer - I used On1, applied sharpening using a luminosity mask which provided me the option to mask out everything but the drops; also applied a color adjustment mask and selected yellow, green, and magenta to reduce saturation and brightness.
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Post by Bailey on Aug 12, 2018 3:20:32 GMT
No problem Bruce
Yes, masking out might not be appropriate, especially if it is a tight crop. If it was me, I would probably just mask out a few to see how they look before deciding whether to continue or not.
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