The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Our cacti are the gifts that keep on giving. Spotted this small snail shell nestled in the midst of the pricklies.
Specific Feedback
One of the great advantages of having subjects so close to home is that if the first attempt isn’t quite right one can revisit the next day. Shot this originally last evening but when I built the stack I noticed that I missed a couple places. I also noted some debris that I removed with tweezers instead of the remove tool in PS.
Technical Details
Sony A7rIII
Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 GM-II, 2xTC @ 250mm
ISO 400, 1/30 @ f11, 13 shot stack in Helicon Focus
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Long tweezers? A very unique image, Bill. A snail is one of the last things I’d expect to find in the middle of a clump of cacti. Your stack looks excellent as does the composition
Oh, I love this, Bill. The composition is balanced so well. I am surprised that a snail would be in with the cacti too. Yes, long tweezers I would hope. Nice shot.
A most unexpected shot. I’m with @Dennis_Plank, I would think those thorns would be hard on the soft snail belly. Go figure. The stack is great. Was that a handheld stack or were you able to set up a tripod? Thanks
It is amazing the snails can negotiate the spines of cactus like this Bill. I have a photo from the Huntington Gardens in Southern California of one crawling on a giant barrel cactus without a care in the world (?!?!?). Nice job cleaning up the extra debris, and great job with the stack here.
Snails seem to wiggle into the most unexpected of places…
A perfect comp to highlight the star here, and exceptional stacking to get everything well-focused.
Love it!
John: My camera does not have an auto stacking feature so all of my stacks are done on a tripod. My 70-200 gives me a magnified view when I’m focusing manually so I can do very fine incremental changes. I was an avowed single capture guy for many years but after seeing how others were getting such good results with stacking I decided to give it a try. The stacking process is a little cumbersome in PS so I tried Helicon and found it was ridiculously easy to use. Just goes to prove old dogs CAN learn new tricks. >=))>
Bill, this looks great. I really like how the small segments arc through the frame. Then, the snail is a nice surprise. Probably not going to get grabbed by a bird while sitting here… The stack looks good, although there are a few soft spots that show in the large view. I remember practicing a lot on what was the smallest focus increment I manually make with my 180 macro and throwing out many stacks because I missed an important frame in the middle…
Wow, excellent. It only took me three attempts to spot it, but it’s such a perfect addition. I really like your crop/comp here, Bill. The way you have the smoother bright green areas flanking the undulating river of textured spines works so well. The shell is a perfect little cherry on top.
Jim: I use RAW files that I export to Helicon from Lightroom. You simply select the series of images you want to stack, right click on one of the images and you will be given the option to export to Helicon to generate a TIFF or DNG. I do DNG and I’m not sure what the difference would be but that was suggested by Mark Seaver who is a stacking expert. You might reach out to him for more detailed advice. Really great hearing from you and hope you’re doing well.
