The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
If Kris gets a macro lens, you can lay odds Monsoon season will begin. And it basically has been and cold with it (40s F during the day). But I went out in the yard with the new lens yesterday and saw lots of ferns coming up and liked the look of this one, waving out into what passes for sunlight. What, me bitter?
While this did move around a bit, I got 18 shots to stack and while it’s not a perfect one since I missed a couple of bits, I like the result, especially the contrasting colors. Mainly I was getting a feel for the aperture and other handling aspects of the lens which is different enough that I need to practice with it.
Specific Feedback
Did I miss anything (other than focus areas) in the stack? Background ok?
Lr for basic RAW file processing and then Zerene for the stack which is a heavily occluded DMap (for the background) and PMap details painted in during retouching. I also went around the edges of everything with the original files to prevent weird halos. TIFF back into Lr for a small crop for more of a rectangular aspect ratio and some masking to reduce the color and exposure in the bg and increase the yellow luminosity in the fern itself. Also a touch of Lens blur to further smooth the background. Painted in focus to make sure those little floaty bits remained. Oh and a horizontal flip.
Delightful little fern, all curl and swagger, looking rather like a tiny Loch Ness monster auditioning for a role in a botanical adventure film. The deep wine red of the stem against that soft chartreuse background is a beautiful color pairing, and the fuzzy texture along the unfurling fronds is exactly the sort of detail this kind of lens earns its keep capturing.
But honestly, what knocked me sideways was reading through your processing notes. Eighteen frames stacked, a heavily occluded DMap for the background married to PMap details painted in during retouching, original files brought back along the edges to keep halos at bay, a TIFF round trip into Lightroom, a crop, masking on the background to tame both color and exposure, a luminosity boost on the yellows, a touch of lens blur, focus painted back in for the floaty bits, and a horizontal flip for good measure. I read it twice just to make sure I had not missed a chapter. That is not post processing, that is darkroom surgery with a side of choreography.
I sometimes flatter myself that I am getting reasonably comfortable with stacking, and then someone like you posts a workflow like this and I realize I have been doing the photographic equivalent of finger painting while you have been restoring the Sistine Chapel. The fact that the result still looks completely natural and unforced is the real testament. None of those steps announces itself in the final image. The fern simply sits there looking like a fern, and that is the highest compliment one can pay to careful post work.
The background reads beautifully clean to me, soft enough to let the subject sing without dissolving into nothing, and the colors stay believable. As for the missing focus areas, I genuinely had to go hunting for them, and I am still not certain I found them all. If those are the imperfections, the rest of us are in serious trouble.
A lovely first dance with the new lens, and a generous lesson in patience for the rest of us. Welcome to monsoon season, and please pass the umbrella.
Kris: A really nice find and a terrific finished product. Many kudos to you for the effort in capture and processing. My only issue when I “graduated” to a longer macro lens was that the old 100mm I had became like a beautiful gem stuffed away in the jewelry box. When I got my new 100 I find I’m pairing it with the 2x 90% of the time. When I used my venerable 200mm I got to the point where I could set up within just a few inches of where I wanted to be to get the framing I was after. It won’t be long and your 90mm will become second nature. Just hope your 45mm doesn’t feel neglected. >=))>
For more stacking info Sebastien, you can check out this thread where we all go into the weeds of detail - Focus Stacking
It does take a lot of practice which is basically trial and error, but I think it opens up a lot of possibilities when it comes to macro work. I don’t stack everything, but sometimes it is worth the effort. Just did another this am with slabbing worked in to make retouching faster and easier. Basically slabbing is making stacks of stacks that way you have fewer shots to look through to find which is the right one for the bit you need to retouch.
I hope the 45 doesn’t go by the wayside since it offers a different perspective and angle of view than the more narrow 90. Something I haven’t been doing as much of is what I call microscapes, small scenes, some macro, some just close up, that show more of the environment where a subject is than just a portrait of that subject. I did them quite a bit in the early oughts, but got away from them for some reason.
Kris, you’re really starting to get joy from that lens. An excellent stack - the only bit I’m not 100% with is the LRC where you could lower the brightness of the pale bit of BG and do the opposite with the 2 darker patches, if you were as fussy as I am!
