When just walking around in my holiday cottage garden after a rainfall to see if something interesting caught my eye, I found this set of pearls!
Specific Feedback Requested
Any comments are welcome!
Advice and comments on the focus stacking technique described below, and on the result!
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
120 mm equiv. macro, 1/80, f/2.8, ISO 200
Focus stacking (Zerene Stacker software): First I stacked the images using the "PMax"method giving the most sharpness, but also giving some unwanted halos. Then I stacked the original images once again using the “DMax” method, with settings giving no halos (but not that sharp result). Finally, I could in my post-processing software (Luminar 4) delete the halos by very locally blending in the image without halos.
Ola, I am enjoying your capture here of the “Pearls” on a bud. I have not started using focus stacking at all, so am of no help at all in that area. I love the bud and the droplets you captured. The dark stem seems a bit too dark and distracting for my taste, but otherwise, to me, it is a great capture. Hopefully our focus stacking photographers can help out in that area.
This is a beautiful find, Ola. Although I do from time to time stack images, I don’t have the fancy software you do, so perhaps as @Shirley_Freeman suggested, some of the others might be able to help with regards to “halos” etc. I do love the bud and the detail you have captured. The OOF background is nice, but again as Shirley mentioned, the dark twig is a bit of a distraction. A luminosity mask with some dodging/burning might work. Or you could try cloning the branch with areas of the back at a low percent opacity. This would give the twig a little more subdue effect. Very nicely seen.
Ola, I use Helicon Focus and it also has problems with both light and dark halos when there are very bright elements in the image. The different methods can help, but often the trade-off is sharpness. My vague recollection from when I tested Zerene was that they often recommend using both methods and then blending them as needed. I also find myself making lots of corrections in Photoshop after the stack (on some pictures). I like your subject and all of the detail that you captured. It’s a fine mix of pointy and round. I do think that lowering the subject in this frame would be good. One way to do that (if your lens’s close focus allows) would be to get in a bit closer. That means more shots in your stack, but it lets the subject occupy a larger part of the frame.
Hi Ola,
Thank you for sharing this photo. The first thing I did was zoom in on the image to see the little world inside. I like all the tiny details. I cropped it to see what it would look like. I really like it as a second image. Many times I keep multiple variations of crops of my own photos. Hopefully, you don’t mind. (If you do, I can delete it)
Ola: Ditto most of the other comments but Ben stole my thunder as I was going to suggest a much tighter crop. The refractions in the drops really show up well in the largest version. Good find and effort. >=))>
@linda_mellor, @Shirley_Freeman, @BenM, @Bill_Fach, @Mark_Seaver and @J_Fritz_Rumpf thank you for your kind comments. I agree fully with your comments on the dark stem. I had some problems to soften it in a pleasing way. I have anyhow done that, but also made a tighter crop also pointed out by you. A repost is now uploaded, thank you for the advise.
One or two, both simply breathtaking. I have not worked with Zerene yet, but after seeing this image, no doubt I will. That took a lot of work, but the results are so very worth it!
