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[Sydney_Jones]

Critique Style Requested: In-depth

The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.

Self Critique

I wanted to shoot low dynamic range photos to practice editing and drawing attention to a subject. Originally, you could see the green out of focus “blur” in the thin-leafed image. I had a similar mentality going into the larger-leaved image.

In the thin leaves image, I like how I emphasized the light by practically eliminating the background (done in post) and I like the exposure of the leaves, but I wasn’t sure how to emphasize the leaves more without changing the exposure. Maybe I should have raised the whites more, but something about it just felt too contrasty. I’d like the leaves in the bottom right to be a little more visible. (That may have been able to be solved with local adjustments, but with such a drastic change to the background, I don’t do well with that. Granted, my photoshop skills are subpar.

With the larger leaved image, I’d like to draw more attention to areas of highlight without pushing the contrast more and maintain a calm feel. I’m not even sure if that’s possible in this B&W scene. At least, not with my knowledge.

Creative direction

My vision solidified as I was editing. I was looking for an LDR to push my contrast as much as possible, but it looked to “sharp” to me and I wanted to convey a sense of calmness when looking at the image.

Specific Feedback

I’d like the larger leaved image to still have a serene feel while pushing contrast even more.

Perhaps that’s an editing thing. I also wish I chose a deeper DOF. I did shoot another image with a deeper DOF, but the background was too much in focus for the larger leaved photo.

Is there any way I can get a deeper DOF for my subject while maintaining the same DOF look for the background?

Technical Details

I wish I still had my camera settings, but I do recall that I was at ISO 100 and used my shutter speed to expose to the left before clipping using just my shutter speed.

At 50mm with my Canon R7 (80mm FF equivalent) I shot at f/2.8. Looking back, it might have been better to shoot at f/4 for a larger depth of field.

I feel horrible that I don’t have my camera settings anymore, but for arguments sake, you can assume the large-leaved image has the same.

Description

I was on a walk with a friend and I was hoping to shoot low dynamic range images to push how far I could manipulate an image in post processing. I spent a bit of time composing, dialed in my settings and shot. I wasn’t paying too much attention to specific details, just what looked like was suitable light and a composition. While processing, I prefered a low key approach to both photos.

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[Bonnie_Lampley]

Hi Sydney - Both images are lovely portraits of characterful leaves. You did a good job darkening the backgrounds - both images look natural.

As far as increasing contrast without increasing exposure, my go-to method is to dodge and burn. Not sure if you have any plug-ins for selecting luminosity ranges, but the built-in dodge/burn tool in PS does a reasonably good job.

On the thin-leaved image, you could try dodging just the lights:

On the bigger leaves image, you’d need a couple different “zones”. I dodged both the lights and midtones, to bring out more of the bottom-most leaves that were in focus. I also burned the lights on that uppermost leaf that is really bright because it is OOF and the brightest bit in the frame. OOF elements aren’t a deal killer, IMO, but generally they shouldn’t be the most prominent element.

As far as getting more of what you want in focus, while leaving the background OOF, you could try focus blending. That is not my strong suit, so take my advice with a grain of salt - try focus stacking just the leaves and then either take a shot with the background really OOF or use one of the leaf shots that has a soft background. If you want more ideas on focus stacking, this post might help:

Focus Stacking

Rather than continue to hijack Ann Louise’s Orange Petals thread with our stacking sidebar, I thought it might be polite to take it to a separate discussion. Our Weekly Challenge moderator, Mark Seaver, does a lot with stacking and has done some webinars for NPN on the subject, but I thought maybe a catch-all thread could be helpful no matter if you’re an experienced stacker, just starting or even only thinking about it. Since moving from a manual (legacy 35mm) macro lens to a system lens, I’v…

[Sydney_Jones]

Focus stacking-how could I forget?

Thank you for the recommendations!

I completely forgot about dodging and burning as well. I was mostly making global adustments in the thin leaved images and local in the second.

Thank you again so, so much!

[Dennis_Plank]

Hi Sydney. I like both images and I like Bonnie’s adjustments. She covered it so well that there’s really nothing to add except that a tripod is awfully handy for focus stacking, though with high speed continuous shooting and the built-in focus bracketing function (I think the R7 has it) hand holding is sometimes possible. If you try it, I’d suggest doing several tries (memory is cheap) and picking the best after you get the files in your computer.

[Bill_Fach]

Sydney: Thanks for a fine post and the ensuing discussion. It’s how we all learn to get better. Stacking is the obvious answer if you have a still subject. If Mark Seaver is a superstar with stacking I’m still in the low minors but Helicon Focus is so easy to use that even a gray muzzled dog like me has picked it up. I love your subjects, comps and conversions. Finely crafted images. >=))>

[Sydney_Jones]

Thank you so much Dennis! I’ll admit, I did have my tripod with me, but sometimes I do get a little lazy. I need to get used to slowing down a little more. And yes, the Canon R7 can focus stack internally, but the file will havw to be a jpeg. I was a little frustrated to find that out, but oh well. Thank you for the kind words and your comment!

[Sydney_Jones]

Thank you for the feedback! Until you mentioned it, I’d never heard of Helicon focusing. I’ll be sure to start slowing down a little more. It is true, some of my best macro shots have been taken with a tripod. Thank you for the kind words, and I must say, you have a gorgeous gallery!