The Clown

[FrankMi]

Here is the original image with only 9 of the 27 images stacked.



What do you think? Are we getting closer? Is there any more we can learn from this exercise?

[bnnrcn]

I think this is the best version so far Frank. If you are going to focus on shooting flowers, it might be a good idea to try different angles with the core of the flowers. This is just a very heavily cropped old image of mine. I didn't know very much about PP then. I think I softened it by turning the clarity down to my taste. My shooting angle is different from yours and it gives another composition.So,as we all know that trying means improving

[Stagecoach]

That's getting much much better Frank.

From another non expert of flowers my concern with the first ones was there was too much competing and with this version the main area of interest stands out more. Perhaps it would also be worth considering having it off centred?

Something I came across a while ago when undertaking some stacking with flowers is that I found when I did a partial stack it looked quite unnatural at the plane between stacked and non-stacked depth but this one looks very natural as if achieved simply by DOF. I suspect this will vary with perspective and subject.

Grahame

[Marie Hass]

Maybe just my personal preference, but I really love the 3/4 view.

You did good, Frank. This new shot is just beautiful.

Marie

[chauncey]

Here is the original image with only 9 of the 27 images stacked...Is there any more we can learn from this exercise

I like the last version better. What I'm taking away from this is...getting the number of stacks "correct" is one of the key choices. Additionally...perhaps muting the red tones somewhat might be the way to go.

[FrankMi]

I think this is the best version so far Frank. If you are going to focus on shooting flowers, it might be a good idea to try different angles with the core of the flowers. This is just a very heavily cropped old image of mine. I didn't know very much about PP then. I think I softened it by turning the clarity down to my taste. My shooting angle is different from yours and it gives another composition.So,as we all know that trying means improving

Nice composition Binnur! I've been concentrating on the Amaryllis that I got my wife and they have the pistils and stamen almost outside the blossom.

From your example, I can see that other types of flowers would have significant advantages for doing core shots. It also doesn't hurt to have a willing model to augment the scene as well!

[FrankMi]

That's getting much much better Frank.

From another non expert of flowers my concern with the first ones was there was too much competing and with this version the main area of interest stands out more. Perhaps it would also be worth considering having it off centred?

Something I came across a while ago when undertaking some stacking with flowers is that I found when I did a partial stack it looked quite unnatural at the plane between stacked and non-stacked depth but this one looks very natural as if achieved simply by DOF. I suspect this will vary with perspective and subject.

Grahame

Excellent feedback Grahame. I found that I was very limited in shooting angles as the pistils and stamen were on the very edge of the blossom and most angles I tried resulted in a lot of dead space. The dead space works pretty well when shooting the entire blossom but puts significant limits on the full frame shots.

I think the reason the partial stacking worked in this situation was that owing to the stamen and pistil's position in the blossom, their focus plane was significantly different than that of the rest of the blossom so the effectiveness of the partial stack approach could be very subject specific.

Good observations! Thank you.

[FrankMi]

Maybe just my personal preference, but I really love the 3/4 view.

You did good, Frank. This new shot is just beautiful.

Marie

I am glad that it meets with your discriminating approval Marie!

I was concerned about the angle I had to shoot at and the fact that the stem was cut off in the image at a sharp angle. That is why I used a Gradient to bleed from black to the blurred image of the Siren as a background.