Since this purple passion leaf was left over from the last fall, I decided it would be a great subject for much experimentation.
Studio shot, tripod and remote release. Four images stacked in Photoshop - part of my experiment to see if I could get PS to produce anything acceptable that was stacked. Cropped 2:3 to 14x9 - eliminating excess areas. Used TK8 “sketch” action - first time, used basic settings. Created masks using object selections tool and TK8 for leaf and background - trying to get a handle on masking.
Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi Linda, this is a cool image. I like the various treatments you’ve given it. I especially like the composition and placement in the frame. Nicely done. I can’t think of anything to change, so I’ll just sit here and enjoy it.
Very lovely! The leaf and tendril are very interesting, the colors and detail are very pleasing and the outline effect works well. (I have yet to try it, so thanks for the nudge!)
PS stacking will always give a blurred area where there is too much distance between FG and BG objects, as you see here in a couple of places. I have no idea how they do it, but Zerene and Helicon do much better. Here you could do some cloning to fix it.
Linda, this is a very striking look at this leaf and tendril. I like the how the black edge sets off the subject and makes clear that this is a studio shot. As far as stacking, Photoshop ALWAYS includes some soft areas in the middle of sharp areas (if you go to my stacking workshop, here, I cover that in more detail.) That problem shows up here in the two areas where I’ve drawn rectangles. There’s a fundamental optics problem that is illustrated by the two arrows. When you have a front and back area that overlap, the only way to avoid blurring at the edge is to get both parts sharp in a single frame. That blur can only be fixed with high resolution cloning. Since you own PS, use it as you explore stacking, but should you develop a strong interest in stacking you’ll need other software. (I think Helicon does a somewhat better job than Zerene and it links directly to Lightroom, which is usually convenient. I talk about that in my workshop also.
Oh this is a beauty. I like the color background you chose. Unusual and striking. Mark points out some areas for improvement and a dedicated stacker will help. Zerene also connects directly to Lightroom through an export function, just FYI. Either Zerene or Helicon will help you clean up the background and also eliminate those harsh black halos.
The sketch action is interesting and may be what’s causing the black outline. I haven’t tried the sketch function yet, but I think it would be nice here if the stacked image was a bit cleaner. As it is it’s hard to tell which did what.
Linda, what a pleasing image. I love the colors especially. That BG really makes the subject pop. Others that know what they are doing with stacking have sounded off and I have no expertise in that area. Just a pleasing image to me.
Thank you, @David_Bostock, @terryb, @Diane_Miller, @Mark_Seaver, @Kris_Smith and @Shirley_Freeman for taking the time to comment and for your great suggestions.
I keep thinking I am not going to get into stacking images, but I keep trying to stack images! I believe this is the definition of insanity! Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Mark and Diane, you have both brought up good points and suggestions, which I truly value. Since I am bound and determine to create sharp/detailed images, clearly I need to get either Helicon or Zerene. Also will be experimenting with cloning, as Diane suggested, to fix specific areas.
Kris, since I’ve only tried the “sketch” effect a couple of times I am still learning a lot about how it enhances an image. I do think the “black” outline is part of the action. Which is, of course, is adjustable depending on the look you’re going for . … .so more experimenting is needed.
Thanks again everyone!
I think we could argue that trying things over and over is not insanity, but rather a desire for improved images! And so many cameras these days do focus bracketing, which gives you an easy way to acquire the needed frames. There are lots of tutorials online for both Helicon and Zerene.
There are two stacking algorithms with Zerene (and probably similar with Helicon): PMax and DMap. The latter has a slider that lets you fine tune the areas where you don’t care about sharpness and I find its adjustment to require ESP. But I usually do both (maybe trying the slider at different positions) and stack the output images in PS and mask for the best parts of each, as both can have artifacts, but not in the same places.
Thanks, Diane, good to know I’m not totally insane. . . yet. I’m checking out both Helicon and Zerene. At this point I’m thinking Helicon will meet my needs best. Truly appreciate all of your suggestions.
Mark, I did take some time to review your video (great tips) and downloaded a trial version of Helicon. Re-took some photos of this leaf and loaded them into Helicon and tried both B & C methods. Both are clearly better than Photoshop. Still lots to learn, but I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
