What changed:@Mark_Seaver@Marylynne_Diggs@Huw_Thomas thank you for your advice. Background is a bit lighter than in original, some details are visible, bokeh patches removed. Colors are a little more vibrant than in Rev.1 and shadows on the right side are have some more light. I hope I have avoided excessive improvements. The top bloom remains the main star but the other three have got some life. I still don’t like the orange one but I think I’ll just have to live with it .
The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
Cabbage thistle (Cirsium oleraceum). Traditional folk name in Poland is Devil’s rib or Tsar’s herb which is related to the occurrence of this plant in Siberia, in English speaking countries it’s also known as Siberian thistle.
Extension tube, focus stacked, edited in Capture One + Helicon Focus
Feedback Requested
I am mainly concerned about editing. I photographed it approx 1 hour before sunset, in a shadowy place with some sunlight flitered through the foliage, the histogram was OK. However it seems a bit overexposed with too high luminosity in light areas. I have reduced the light and luminosity, played with various layers and sliders but I’m not happy about the result. Any further “improvements” were excessive. So my question is if I’m too demanding or in fact original RAWs should be exposure compensated a bit.
Jacek, the details in the thistle look great. While a bit of burning-in would show a touch more color, the brightness as posted looks fine. I wonder if letting the background show a bit more would add some environmental interest. With the very dark background, this starts to feel like an illustration for a book or magazine. I do see a small bit of softness in the upper left of the front bloom, that looks to me like Helicon’s problem with letting bright parts behind bleed through what is in front. This can be fixed in the stack retouching with some very careful cloning.
While I use Photoshop for “final” processing, a quick internet search shows that Capture 1 has ways of creating and using Luminosity masks. Those are give you much better control than sliders for adjusting limited ranges of luminosity or color.
When it comes to adjusting the RAW histogram, I’m a firm believer in maximizing the dynamic range in most shots. Your camera shows you a jpg interpretation of what the chip is collecting, which is much more limited in dynamic range that what RAW allows. You can even allow some white saturation on the camera’s screen, if you’ve turned on the “blinkies”. As long as you don’t have over exposed whites (and sometimes colors) they can be darkened either during RAW processing or in post processing.
@Mark_Seaver Thank you so much for this helpful comment. The upper left of the front bloom is my main concern. Yes, I use the luminosity tool, either for whole images or for separated masks. I have darkened the BG beacuse it’s rather chaotic mess with no interesting objects. In the revised version I have let the BG in a little, and a touch more light in the whole image plus vivid colors.
I really like the color palette of this, Jacek. The various shades of that dusty rose color goes beautifully with the greens, and keeping the background nearly black does a nice job of showing off the thistle without distractions.
I’m not much of a macro photographer, so I’ll leave that to the experts, but for me, the first revision looks great except for that bit of bokeh color just to the upper right of the thistle. That was more subdued in the original, and in the revision, it feels a little distracting. It might be a result of some other luminosity changes. If it can be reduced in that one area, I’ll think you will approach perfection on this one.
ML
The colour palette of this thistle is gorgeous, and it will make a wonderful plant portrait.
using the same tool kit that one uses in studio portraits., when one light isn’t enough - add another. - by dodging and burning in our case.
The light seems to be coming from left side, behind and overhead (top left)?
I like the changes between the original and the revision no1, the background is a little brighter and the depth and colour overall seems more 3D
Perhaps continue this process to enhance the colours and selectively a bot more vibrance - to make the image pop. - luminosity masks would seem to be ideal
You might then gently colour grade the whole image and a 2px border picking a colour (green or pink) from the flower as a finishing flourish?
Its lovely - a few tiny tweaks and it’ll be sensational
@Marylynne_Diggs Thank you very much, Marylynne. Those bokeh patches were coming from two light objects far behind, I don’t remember what it was. Easily removed.
Jacek: I like the revision a lot. Thistles are great subjects and I think you’ve brought out the detail and colors very nicely. Top notch effort. >=))>
I love your latest revision. As I mentioned - if this were a human studio portrait you would render the shadows a little darker so to allow the directional light to be more apparent and render the image more 3D.
You also mentioned you have made the colours more vibrant - and this really works.
I have played a bit setting up some colour grading (use gradient map, choose the tint you would like the darks and lights and then blend the layer on top of the stack - soft light blend mode about 10% opacity)
I set up a red, pink green and yellow gradients - masked them all out (black mask) and gently painted them back in the mask in the areas appropriate to the colours (to stop the colour bleeding into unwanted areas).
I think my manipulations are too strong - but you get the idea of possibilities (should you want to move in this direction.
You may hate it, love it or just take an idea to go your own way. I have enjoyed playing
Please ignore at your pleasure.
Your current version is a wonderful capture of an amazing plant in gorgeous light.
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- by dodging and burning in our case.