Rework - Added canvas to sides and top with Content Aware Fill as Kris suggested and darkened as Don suggested (both of which I agree with).
My wife noticed me working with this last night and asked for a small framed print that she could put on he desk.
Edit: I found the ID on this plant, this is a Gopher Plant, AKA-Euphorbia Rigida
This was at a local botanical garden, it caught my eye as I was preparing to leave so I didn’t get to spend much time on it.
Some plants at the garden had a nametag near the plant or flower but this one didn’t so any help with ID is much appreciated!
The plant is about 12 inches or 30cm tall and maybe 2 inches or 50mm in diameter.
I wish I could have managed a deeper focus with the lens I had with me, I tried reducing magnification and backing off for a deeper focus but I lost the composition I was after. I may go back with my 18-105G f4 lens soon.
The lens I had with me was a 45 year old manual focus 70-210 macro f4.5
This part may help others, I discovered after this shoot that my camera has a manual setting for stabilization when using a manual lens, without setting the camera stabilization for a specific focal length, it’s very shaky in the viewfinder, with the setting adjusted properly it’s very smooth.
The light was mid-day sun but the plant was the only thing lit up, the ground foliage was shaded but I did darken the upper portion in post. I didn’t have a diffuser with me either.
I wasn’t prepared! Lol
Note: I almost forgot to mention that I had to do some cloning in the corners where I rotated the image ca 20° or so.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any and all feedback is welcome!
I’m always open to other perspectives.
One thing in particular I’d like to know. One of my monitors is analog, the other is digital.
On the analog monitor this appears as bluish gray with a slight yellow cast but the digital monitor shows bluish gray with no yellow cast.
I’ve run both monitors through a series of monitor adjustment images but I can’t get them to match.
I think the purchase of a good matching pair of digital monitors is coming up soon.
Another thing in particular is the cropping at the sides, I wanted a bit more room on the sides but rotating it to improve perspective caused me to crop it tighter than I would have liked, how does it look to you?
Thank you!
Technical Details
Sony A7R IV
Vivitar 70-210 Macro Focus Zoom Lens
f16 (I think), ISO 3200, 1/400s, 210mm
RAW, No Compression.
Processed in Camera Raw and PS
This is nice Merv. It definitely looks just bluish grey and the colour and tones are lovely. The angle of the stems are good although the point where the two stems almost touch keeps drawing my eye. Fortunately the small stem just beneath it overcomes that somewhat. The darkened foliage in the background works well. Cheers.
Really interesting plant, although I don’t think it’s a yukka (we had some in our previous yard and I don’t remember anything like this). No idea what it is, but the soft almost silvery coloring is really attractive. The crop is a little tight - you could probably do some Content Aware Fill to expand the edges if you want. Easily done in Photoshop. The DOF is a bit shallow, but you have sharpness where you need it. I’m not seeing a yellow cast with my aging Lenovo laptop. You could add a bit of saturation if you want, I especially like to do this with a mid-tones mask to keep it in that range. I use the TK8 panel to do a lot of this kind of thing in Photoshop.
Oh and I love finding new stuff in my camera. Like Phil, I shoot with a Lumix G9 and it has so much built in that it’s hard to remember sometimes. In-body image stabilization is one and if I use my old lenses it’s definitely a help.
Thank you for the feedback on the monitor as well as the image, Phil!
I had a few minor nits about the image myself but it was such a unique plant I couldn’t pass it up.
The monitor color, ID and the thought it may be something that others might enjoy seeing for the first time were the main reasons for posting it.
I will go back tomorrow to try another shot of it for better DOF with an 18-105 lens and maybe a diffuser if needed. I’ll make sure to take my gear this time, not just the camera
If I can find anyone there to help with the ID would be nice as well!
Thanks, Phil, I appreciate your thoughts and your help!
Thank you, Kris!
I appreciate your help with the monitor color and the feedback on the plant.
I was purely guessing at what kind of plant this might be, the leaves almost have the color of some cactus plants but the leaves aren’t very thick like cactus.
I am going back tomorrow for a better shot and hopefully someone will be there that can help with the ID because I’m really curious.
I never thought about using Content Aware Fill for such a large area, I’ve barely used it for even small areas so thanks for pointing me in that direction! I just tried it on this image and I’m pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.
I agree with your suggestion for a bit more saturation.
I’ve never used the TK8 plug-in either, from the video I just watched it would be good for tonal adjustments, better than Camera Raw it seems, I’ll try it out. Thanks for pointing that out as well!
I guess I need to get better acquainted with all that Adobe has to offer.
I’m just now getting comfortable with the massive menu in the camera
No prob. Now is a perfect time to pick up Tony’s Plug-in and the video guide by Sean Bagshaw is a great way to dive in and learn (sale now!). Both guys hang out here on occasion. A couple years ago when I decided to tackle Photoshop, I knew I’d have a big learning curve and so after getting the basics I decided to learn the TK8 panel and take that learning curve rather than deep dive Photoshop without it.
I may install TK8, there is a learning curve there as with any complex tool but as you said, it’s better to learn TK8 before doing a deep dive into PS.
It would be easier than switching back and forth between PS and Camera Raw and it appears to have a few more tools than LR or CR.
I appreciate the heads up!
All the best,
P.S. I found the ID and if it wasn’t obvious by the title edit, it’s a Gopher Plant (Euphorbia Rigida).
Nobody was at the garden today because of heavy rain but a deeper research online helped me to ID this plant.
Hi Don, I did what you suggested and I thought it was an improvement as well, so thanks for that!
Now I get to do a small print and make a frame for it so my wife can have this one her desk, she asked for it so that’s what I’ll do
I added the reworked version to the top of this post.
Thanks for your thoughts, Don!
Oh, and thanks for the confirmation about not having the yellow cast.
