Lycoris radiata is very common right now in Korea. I tried to get as smooth a natural background as possible.Using Zerene Stacker, the smoothest I could get was this DMap version at 80%. The jasmine leaves forming the BG are occasionally reddish.
Specific Feedback Requested
I know the sharpness of the flower leaves a lot to be desired; but I tried here (with 12 photos in the stack) to capture the vibrance of this bloom without overdoing it.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
D500 + 105mm macro 1/1250 f4 ISO 400 Tripod
Topaz Denoise followed by Shadows/Highlights in PS. Then increased Green and lowered Red in Color Balance. Lowered Saturation and Vibrance a little. Then Topaz Denoise. I also had to retouch parts of the image (especially overlapping stamens) where the stacking caused “bleeding”.
The flower’s colors are gorgeous, Mike. Desaturation of the reds worked well. Can’t help with the stacking issues as I am not very good at that at all. Perhaps others will have some suggestions. Beautiful photo, nicely seen and captured.
You are a glutton for punishment with this complex flower for stacking. There’s a few artifacts present and you can clean them up with the rubber stamp tool. I would drop the exposure down by a third of a stop and reduce the cyan cast in the BG. The image came out very well and certainly well worth the effort…Jim
Ditto what Jim said - this is a heroic effort considering the subject. The colors look odd to me though - too washed out in a way. Possibly adding some contrast and reducing the exposure can help. The structure is so interesting and the stack came out reasonably well. It reminds me of bee balm…not a lily though, but the way the flowers attach to a main anchor point is similar.
@Linda_Mellor Thanks for your comments, Linda! @Jim_Zablotny@Kris_Smith I reduced the exposure, added contrast and slid the Cyan-Red slider to the right. This has added more zip to the flower to my eye; thanks for the tips. The flower is pretty circular if viewed from above, which makes it a big stacking challenge. Maybe next time I’ll take a view from above. Repost added.
A good job of a difficult stack, but stacking was a good idea here. The colors in the OP are odd to me, with the reds looking too desaturated and too featureless. In the RP the BG is too saturated and the reds still too featureless.
I would go back to the OP, undo the desaturation and try a selective Color layer, choosing the Red channel and adding Cyan, then maybe adding a little yellow. Desaturation is rarely a good way to corral colors, with the possible exception of overdone skies. The answer is to prevent the over-saturation in the raw files, starting with the choice of a camera profile, then WB.
Thanks very much, @Diane_Miller. I was surprised to find I’d accidentally deleted my starting (non-desaturated) DMax (along with all the original files!) so I had to make your suggested adjustments to the desaturated DMax stack. Still, if you look at Repost 2 above. I think there’s improvement in the flower, especially the detail, But, like you said, I should have made some different selections at the time of shooting. This photo has been a very useful learning exercise for me - as @Jim_Zablotny said in another context, reds can be tricky, or words to that effect! I hope to do this flower justice next year, as it’s pretty much finished now.
