For a Flora moderator I don’t take a lot of pictures of flowers. At least I haven’t lately. So I took a turn around my yard and decided to try my hand at very tiny flowers. This is a variety of chickweed and is about 5mm across. It was one of the only isolated examples of the flower that I thought would make for a decent photo. Most of the flowers were tightly packed in other plants, grass and debris.
It’s challenging to find a decent composition when everything is in miniature and difficult to see clearly, especially when looming over them. By the time you position the camera and see what you have, it’s all wrong and you have to start again. But very small things intrigue me and weeds have a bad name. Many are beautiful and beneficial for pollinators.
Specific Feedback Requested
The stack isn’t perfect…it’s tough with these little ones, but I’m going to keep trying. Thoughts?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Beanbag…or maybe the tripod. 11 image bracketing session using +4 step, 0/-/+ method. I decided on this because I really couldn’t find the nearest bit to me and so I aimed in the center of the flower and moved in and out from there with alternating frames. I chose 11 out of laziness since it defaults there and because I still wanted to maintain a lot of OOF elements.
Lightroom for initial exposure adjustments along with texture, clarity, a little sharpening & a white balance adjustment. Zerene for stacking - PMax output with retouching. Lr again for a crop and adjustments to the color balance and contrast.
The whites are perfectly exposed and this is a very difficult composition to capture. The brown tips of the leaves are interesting and would not consider them to be detrimental. You may try a slight Guassian blur layer to smooth out the texture of the lower leaves and maybe soften the tack sharp leaf sticking up out of the bottom of the frame. Well done on capturing this tiny flower…Jim
Well done Kris.I think the squarish aspect ratio works well for this subject, leaving you with good spacing around the flower. The whites are well handled, that probably required some careful attention in processing. If I had one nitpick, it’s that the tiny green leaf at the bottom center is more in focus than everything around it. I would prefer to see that blurred a bit, leaving only the center of the image sharp.
Thanks @Jim_Zablotny & @Ed_McGuirk - these teeny things are a challenge for sure. I think I may have started with a Linear Profile just because the whites are so delicate, but I also knew that when I took it so shot with that in mind. Sometimes I’m amazed that I’ve learned so much over the years. When I first started with digital, processing mystified me like nothing else.
Corrected shot in OP. I don’t know why I didn’t notice that leaf in the first place.
I’m still trying to catch up on the images posted.
You’re right; small flowers are a challenge in many ways. Low to the ground, hard to focus, often don’t have a singular character, etc. However, the tribulations, you handled mouse-eared chickweed very well.
I would have liked to see the second set of opposite leaves in focus, but that would be a lot of work both pre and post, and in my two cents, not worth the time. You’re handling far more interesting subjects and handling them very, very, well, and that’s where to take the time.
