Project 52 By Wendy Stanford

[Wendy Stanford]

I hope by committing to this project will help me improve my skills and boost my creativity.
Please feel free with any comments or suggestions for improvement.

Cheers
Wendy

[Wendy Stanford]

Week 1.
I had a lovely time with a couple of Praying Mantis last week, they were very obliging and quite entertaining.
The background is possibly a little bright, they were on a vine,with the house as the background



Taken with Canon 100m Macro Lens
F10
1/25
ISO 200

Cheers

[FrankMi]

Nice close-up! How would it look if it were rotated 90° CW with the light coming from below?

[Sam Smith]

That is cool. I like it but have to agree with Frank rotate 90 degrees.

[Mark von Kanel]

Much better than my attempts which ill be posting shortly!!

[ScoutR]

Great shot, I like the bright background, it's what makes the shot unique - Well that and the angle and closeness of it. Hmmm I think it's just a very unique shot and that's why it works so well. Very interesting perspective.

Wendy

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Great capture Wendy. I'd be inclined to rotate it but perhaps you can choose an angle that keeps it looking interesting.

[Donald]

Well done, Wendy. You're off to a good start.

What always amazes about macro shooting (which I know nothing about), is the narrow DoFs you folks work to. This is f10 and, yet, the DoF is so shallow.

[Wendy Stanford]

Thanks , I chose the angle it was as it was how it was taken, the mantis kept watching me as I photographed from different angles, it was quite entertaining.
Frank, Sam and Malcolm, Here is the rotated version, I quite like it, makes the eye the focus
Wendy, Mark, Donald thanks for the comments and encouragment.



Onto Week 2, there are so many excellent images in the 52 week project with great explainations on how the shot was taken

[SpiderBob]

I like it Wendy, but my eye keeps looking at the light below his head, wondering how this came about. Knowing how it came about it is great, but I wonder if one was looking at this for the first time, ahhh yes, it is reflection. Nice Wendy.

He has a look of disgust

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Looks great Wendy. It looks like you've captured his portrait

[Wendy Stanford]

I like it Wendy, but my eye keeps looking at the light below his head, wondering how this came about. Knowing how it came about it is great, but I wonder if one was looking at this for the first time, ahhh yes, it is reflection. Nice Wendy.

He has a look of disgust

Thanks Bob, They look abit alien like

[Wendy Stanford]

Looks great Wendy. It looks like you've captured his portrait

Thanks Malcolm, I must say for alot of the shots I took, he did seem to be posing

[Wendy Stanford]

Week 2.
Gazania Flower, I was taking photographs of these bright sunny flowers before I mowed them down.
I chose this one because it shows a different perspective from outside the flower instead of looking at the inside



Exif: Canon 100mm Macro Lens, 1/320, F5.6, ISO 500

Cheers

[Snarkbyte]

Hi Wendy. I really like the texture of this shot, the exposure is dead-on, and the focused parts of the flower are very sharp. But I think you should consider a greated DOF for this subject... the unfocused background petals are OK, but parts of the foreground petals are also very soft. Flowers don't move much, so you could use a much narrower aperture and longer exposure for this shot to bring all of the foreground into focus, but would also bring more of the background in focus as well. The other option you might consider is using a focus rail and stacking several images (assuming you have some PP software that can do the stacking).

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I agree with Al on the DOF. I'm not a macro photographer but I've found that f/5.6 is much to narrow for macro photos that I've taken.

There's some really good elements to the photo but I think more of the flower in focus would really make this one shine. I think also perhaps that you don't need as much negative space on the right.

Oh, I love that background by the way. It contrasts well with the yellows of the flower and those clouds (I think that's what they are) give the background a dreamy special effect type look.

[Rob Douglas]

Depending on the look your going for f/5.6 is not going to give you much DOF. This is one of the main reasons that lighting is so important in macro photography. f/22 is going to give you a much better DOF but requires much more light.

[Sam Smith]

Wendy, Very nicely done. I am not sure that a increase DOF will be that much of a benefit as the contrast, and the detail of the pedals would look close enough to the same. I personally will lose my concentration when there is to much dof on a shot. Macro is not something I do but I do like looking at them. I think you captured what you set out to do.

[ScoutR]

Nice Wendy, are you going to be able to keep up this pace for 52 weeks. Both shots are so unique and lovely. I agree about the DOF on the second, but a great shot as is. Looking forward to see what you are up to next week.

Wendy

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi Wendy. I really like the texture of this shot, the exposure is dead-on, and the focused parts of the flower are very sharp. But I think you should consider a greated DOF for this subject... the unfocused background petals are OK, but parts of the foreground petals are also very soft. Flowers don't move much, so you could use a much narrower aperture and longer exposure for this shot to bring all of the foreground into focus, but would also bring more of the background in focus as well. The other option you might consider is using a focus rail and stacking several images (assuming you have some PP software that can do the stacking).

Thanks Al,
The petals are a bit soft, my focus was on the green area below
I could have narrowed the aperture down, as I was at 1/350, but had ISO at 500, I haven't tried stacking images but have seen examples, will make it part of the 52 Project to try