So the ‘high key’ concept didn’t seem to go over well and I changed up some things to produce this series.
First is the addition of a LED panel to fill in and even out the light. I deliberately set it on the warmer end of the spectrum to show how the green lichens look under different temperatures. I actually held the panel while the camera took the pictures. It was to the side and level with the lens.
Second is that I used my deck coffee table outside as my backdrop. It also made it easier for me to place the sticks and branches where they would be stable, and to get the camera right up to them either with the beanbag or the tripod.
Thirdly, I used the 0/-/+ focus bracketing method and started in two different positions in two sequences of 11. I used a 4-step distance and fairly wide open apertures to keep the table relatively blurry (it’s teak and has been outside in 5 summers getting weathered).
Each stack is 22 images. I deliberately left things a bit soft here and there because I felt the others very crisp-front-to-back shots lacked soul. They felt really clinical to me.
Specific Feedback Requested
So…thoughts?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
P/L 45mm f/2.8 macro
Lume Cube
Tripod and/or beanbag
Lr processed for initial adjustments, Zerene for stacking and retouching, Lr for additional tweaks, sharpening & crops if necessary. Did some brush work on a couple to tone down the backgrounds.
Well done! This body of work is growing and getting more elegant as it morphs, and you include different techniques. Is it possible to take a photo of the camera, subject, light arrangement to demonstrate what you are doing? I’m especially interested in the LED panel. If not, that’s ok too.
Wow, Kris, you are improving on what I thought was very good to start with. A nice series here, and you really made the light look very natural, to me. The smooth background makes the limbs and lichen stand out so nicely too. Sounds like you put quite a bit of work and time, as well as thought into it, but was rewarded nicely.
Kris, the more I look, the more I find: and like these images. You’re right about leaving some details out of focus. It provides depth and a more natural, less clinical, as you say, look.
I’m back and forth with the “staghorn” between diagonal and horizontal. I am leaning heavily to the horizontal.
The horizontal graphics are more pleasing, giving the background equal importance, transforming it from negative space to part of the narrative. The contrapuntal feel between the soft melody of the ground and the higgly-piggly texture and color of the lichens is a delightful blend.
Kris, I really like the first shot. The comp. is nicely dynamic as the branch arcs across the frame. The color contrast between the little orange/yellow lichen and the tall (ish) greenish lichen is very attractive. The details look great. I do think that the brightest bits along the branch could be burned-in slightly for a bit more detail and color. There’s also some green fringing in a few spots to the tall lichen. Those may be due to your choices in the stack but may also be stacking artifacts. Go back and check your frames to see if they’re there all along of if the sharpest frames showing those areas don’t have them.
Thanks everyone. I’m collecting sticks at an appalling rate. lol. Seems basswood is host to a lot of very cool lichen. I was paddling under a tree coming into the dock and noticed that the older trees are well covered, while the saplings are not.
Mark - I did all my retouching with the original stacks and use those to paint in detail where needed. I think this is a case of the focus bracketing not getting parts of the structures. As you know it’s touchy thing sometimes and these are so deep (relatively speaking) that unless I take a lot of shots, there are going to be OOF areas. I’m still experimenting with how much is enough and what is too little. I’m sure I’ll tweak things even more.
Thanks Shirley - I hope these are getting better. I’m certainly a nut about it right now so hope to bring things to even more interesting final results. I have some ideas percolating.
I hope these load, Paul. The summer people are back and crowding our one cell tower so my internet is practically nil a lot of the time.
I use it on a Gorilla Pod sometimes, and also have some articulating arms and a cold shoe mount for it as well. It can go directly onto the shoe on the camera, but the lens hood blocks the light sometimes and it’s not where I want the light most of the time. I want it down closer and to one side or the other depending on what I’m doing. It took an age of searching for articulating arms that would hold, bend and attach to the shoe. Insane, but apparently I’m the only one who wants this. Joby (the Gorilla Pod people) make these little arms to hold mikes or small lights for Vlogging, etc. They’re short money and can stack together with a M-M adapter. I also have cold shoe mounts for the end that I can use with the Lume Cube shoe adapter.
The clamp in the other pics is something I rigged up years ago out of Loc Line, a clamp and an alligator clip. It holds stuff that I’m shooting or sometimes a folding diffuser. I thought I’d have to cobble something together for the LED panel, but I found the Joby stuff so didn’t. The threads on the ends of the arms are standard 1/4 inch M. Finding a F shoe adapter is practically impossible, but Joby to the rescue again.
This is a great series, I think the change of BG make the lichen stand out in a more pleasent manner. My favoriite is the first one! A very minor comment: There are a few small threads that I would have erased.
Thanks @Ola_Jovall ! I think it’s moving in the right direction. Played with the light on a bit of lichen today and it’s taking a new direction…well slightly.
I was of two minds about the spider thread, Ola. They were blurry and pretty much invisible in some of the images in the stack and I chose to use the ones where they were clear. I could clone them out in Photoshop…and might still, but for now I kind of like them. Spiders inhabit these little landscapes and I think their leavings are part of the charm. But that’s just me.
Thanks for sending the photos of the manner you hold subjects and lights, as well as the LED. The photos provide a universe of new ideas.
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Thanks @paul_g_wiegman & @David_Leroy - happy to take set up shots. Did a quick session today with a new twist and took a set up shot. It’s rather funny.
The small world has always fascinated me and with some new techniques & technologies we can see even more of it.
