Tom Pickering, APSA  


Petals by Tom Pickering, APSA

February 2021 - Petals

About the Image(s)

Specs: Nikon D5000, Tamron 60mm + 66mm extensions, F27, 1s, ISO 200, Macro Rig, Twin LED's

This is a 31-image focus stack, 2:1, of a red carnation from a store-bought bouquet. This was merged in Helicon Focus then cleaned up and toned in Affinity Photo. Suggestions?


This round’s discussion is now closed!
13 comments posted




 
Nice tonality. I like the image. Maybe sharpen it a little?   Posted: 02/08/2021 20:23:40



Rusty Pinckney   Rusty Pinckney
Tom, Not sure about this one. Would you please post the original? One thing that does bother me are the two splits in the petals at the top.   Posted: 02/08/2021 22:41:47
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
There is no single original image, Rusty. This is a macro "image" that is 31 thin slices merged together. I took an image, moved the camera 1mm closer and took another shot, etc., etc.   Posted: 02/10/2021 00:04:50
Rusty Pinckney   Rusty Pinckney
Oops, I missed your description.   Posted: 02/10/2021 00:16:41



Miriam Power   Miriam Power
This would make a great texture. In saying that I took Rusty's comment and cloned the splits in the petals. I took some of the noise out in Nik Dfine2   Posted: 02/09/2021 04:40:48
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I like Miriam's version with the fix of the splits in the petals. It still seems to need a little something, but I'm not sure what. Here it is with a little more contrast.   Posted: 02/09/2021 08:03:21
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Rusty Pinckney   Rusty Pinckney
Brenda and Miriam, Split petals correction helps; agree it still needs something. It seems a bit off kilter.
  Posted: 02/10/2021 00:18:29



 
So beautiful. I tried to popup the color a little bit   Posted: 02/10/2021 13:04:30
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Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Here's a redo based upon your suggestions:   Posted: 02/10/2021 15:11:44
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Arabella Dane   Arabella Dane
Well, not being a carnation lover, I'm really enjoying this stack. There is so much rhythm here - color rhythm of course and then the lines!!! I am not sure about the color however and am wondering if it were desaturated a touch... so i played with it in lightroom classic and discovered another beautiful viewpoint hidden within   Posted: 02/16/2021 08:51:05
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Bev Caine   Bev Caine
(Groups 24 & 48 & 58)
I've gotten much more into flowers lately and have been having a lot of fun playing with textures. Tom, I like your suggested improvement. The brightened colors really make the image stand out. And, yes, a bit of sharpening would probably help. Have you tried Topaz Sharpen AI? It works wonders.   Posted: 02/19/2021 06:01:52
Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
I do have the full suite of Topaz AI programs - I'm one of their beta testers. I will look at more sharpening, but I don't want to lose the softness of the petals by too much sharpening.   Posted: 02/20/2021 12:56:12



Tom Pickering   Tom Pickering
Thanks all for the input. I think this one was just not the right angle or possibly the wrong point of focus. d:¬{(   Posted: 02/20/2021 12:57:22