Some Camellias from the UGA Coastal Botanical Gardens. I caught this in decent shade under a bright morning sun. The flowers and leaves were in good shade, but the dappled background was monstrously light. It turned into a labor of love to even it out in post processing. Selectively, I lessened contrast and brightness, did a field blur, then an overlay of a dull warm green at about 39
%. I kept the flowers and leaves pretty much as they were out of the camera. This was an 18 image focus stack.
any recommendations on a better treatment of the BG would be most welcome.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
The picture feels a bit dark to me, but I left it as is; I felt I had done too much already
Any pertinent technical details:
Camera Info: Nikon D750, tripod, remote release
Lens: VR 180mm f/2.8G
Focus Mode: Manual
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: OFF
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/400s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 800
83% of full frame
PP IN LR/PS CC 2019, Helicon Focus, Camera Raw filter, TK sharpen for web @ 50%
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Hi Phil. I think your treatment of the background was masterful. I’d never guess you touched it and it’s very pleasing. I don’t find it excessively dark at all. I love the arrangement of blooms with the bud underneath, but I do wish for a touch more room on the left since the flower on that side is facing outward.
The image appears to me to have the reds and yellows blown out. I dropped a few info points in the images in the CC19, sRGB, 8 bit and sure enough, there were a lot of 255, 254 values in the red and yellow channels. It also shows up in CC19 histogram.
I took you image and put it inside the sRGB color space and the reds and yellow are squashed,
Did you create your image stack as JPEG or NEFs with Helicon Focus? That might explain the saturation and blown out reds.
I did not see any chalk marks so the focus stack was clean.
The background is okay, compliments the red, and fades well.
I don’t think the pistil’s on the front flower are tack sharp. Maybe your lens had met its minimum focus distance, motion blur or focus point not in the stack
thanks for letting me critique your image. I’m hoping you can take this info and use it to your benefit. I definitely don’t reply like others on the site, which gives you another point of view.
I like the brightness and spot on focus and detail in the leaves to the right. The reds are really hot, and it’s a very challenging color to photograph. I like the composition for the most part. With Camelias, in can be hard to isolate blossoms effectively. Deciding whether you want to make it a centered or off-centered comp, you might move the frame around a bit and see whether a slight adjustment makes it pop.
A lovely floral spread beautifully framed, Phil. Not sure where you are coming from with the comment about darkness - I guess we would have to see all your edits !! It looks fine to me, though maybe the reds seem a touch bluish and strong.
