Charles Ginsburgh
November 2024 - Yellow Star-Thistle
About the Image(s)
I was walking along the SF Bay and encountered this Yellow Star-Thistle bloom along the path. I clipped off a bloom (it was a weed patch in an empty lot), and brought is home to shoot it in my living room against a 50 % gray background.
Here I used my tripod mounted Canon R5 MII camera with a 100 mm f/2.8 Canon macro lens. Thirteen focus slices were captured (2 sec, f/18, ISO 500) and stacked in-camera. The stacked image was processed further in Photoshop to brighten the image and to add a different textured background.
5 comments posted
Hi Charlie: From a technical and composition standpoint everything is just spot on as always.
I would imagine this is the true colors of this yellow thistle, if you were to enter this picture in a PSA International Nature Exhibition it would be a good representation of this specific specie of thistle. We do not have this specie in the Pacific Northwest.
If you wanted this picture could be post processed with enhanced colors with a dark blue background into a very impactful pictorial image, but not true nature colors of course.
Posted: 11/02/2024 19:20:16
I would imagine this is the true colors of this yellow thistle, if you were to enter this picture in a PSA International Nature Exhibition it would be a good representation of this specific specie of thistle. We do not have this specie in the Pacific Northwest.
If you wanted this picture could be post processed with enhanced colors with a dark blue background into a very impactful pictorial image, but not true nature colors of course.
Posted: 11/02/2024 19:20:16
Hi Charles. Very nice composition, details, light, cropping, and a non-competing background.
I do not have any suggestion for improvement.
Great work. Posted: 11/15/2024 21:22:00
I do not have any suggestion for improvement.
Great work. Posted: 11/15/2024 21:22:00
The star thistle really stands out well. I have several acres of star thistle if you need more to work with. It looks a bit flat against the background. What can be done to make it seem to stand away from the uniform background. Would that improve the image? Posted: 11/15/2024 22:14:19
One might try adding some directional light (lighting more from one side than the other). That way one might get fall-off of light across the subject. When that type of light is present, subjects look as though they are more three dimensional, and not as light. One might try doing this in post processing as well. Things to consider. Posted: 11/16/2024 01:36:46
Charlie...This is a beautiful thistle and deserves to be recognized. I like how it has the rule of thirds in its alignment. The blooming thistle is the focal point of the picture but my eye was distracted by the twisted stem below. I cropped out some of the twisted stem and used the healing brush to remove the rest. This is my version. I like the subtle choice of background against the petals of the thistle. Very nice subject and photo! Posted: 11/16/2024 06:12:44