Trying to develop new techniques for the new camera. Pretty blue flower

[JBW]

aperture F5.6, lens focal length 45.00mm, shutter speed, 1/1250, shutter priority, centered weighted, ISO 1600, white balance cloudy, JPEG, First processed in Sony express and then GIMP. I have no idea what the miniature in the top left corner is for it is simply an option from Sony Express.

[Shadowman]

You said "develop new techniques", what exactly did you do that is different from any other attempt? The composition looks flat even though there is apparent DOF, the flower looks pasted on. Is this the technique you were referring to?

[JBW]

You said "develop new techniques", what exactly did you do that is different from any other attempt? The composition looks flat even though there is apparent DOF, the flower looks pasted on. Is this the technique you were referring to?

I shot in shutter rather than aperture. I worked with the ISO. Jpeg rather than RAW. Did the cropping and sharpening in Sony express. Did a black and white in S.E. to do the depth merge in Gimp rather than create it in Gimp. Did levels and curves in both but primarily S.E..

In a nutshell I tried to use the extended capabilities of the camera and the software. Apparently there is still a long way to go.

[Shadowman]

I shot in shutter rather than aperture. I worked with the ISO. Jpeg rather than RAW. Did the cropping and sharpening in Sony express. Did a black and white in S.E. to do the depth merge in Gimp rather than create it in Gimp. Did levels and curves in both but primarily S.E..

In a nutshell I tried to use the extended capabilities of the camera and the software. Apparently there is still a long way to go.

I think the lack of shadows is what makes this particular image look flat. The level of sharpness looks odd also, only the flower and leaf on right side looks sharp. It's always fun to experiment with the camera, just remember the effects of certain choices.

[JBW]

I think the lack of shadows is what makes this particular image look flat. The level of sharpness looks odd also, only the flower and leaf on right side looks sharp. It's always fun to experiment with the camera, just remember the effects of certain choices.

That I shall

[DanK]

I shot in shutter rather than aperture

I think you may be partly asking the wrong question. The selection of mode doesn't affect the image; the aperture and shutter speed do. the modes are just conveniences for getting you to the shutter speed and aperture you want. If you are interested in image quality, I suggest you play with aperture and shutter speed directly, using whichever mode most easily gets you the settings you want.

[JBW]

I think you may be partly asking the wrong question. The selection of mode doesn't affect the image; the aperture and shutter speed do. the modes are just conveniences for getting you to the shutter speed and aperture you want. If you are interested in image quality, I suggest you play with aperture and shutter speed directly, using whichever mode most easily gets you the settings you want.

That is what I am aiming for. Part of my learning curve is all of the new possibilities the new camera offers. the Fujifilm had the same basics but the expanded possibilities are going to take a while to sort out. It is similar to foothills versus mountains.

[xpatUSA]

Part of my learning curve is all of the new possibilities the new camera offers. the Fujifilm had the same basics but the expanded possibilities are going to take a while to sort out. It is similar to foothills versus mountains.

Hello Brian,

I'm not familiar with the Sony but maybe it promises "better" ISO performance as a possibility. As a Sigma camera owner, I would caution against straying much over ISO 400 unless you absolutely have to. On a Sigma, you soon find out about noise and shifted colors from about ISO 800 upward. I mention my Sigma only because Bayer sensors get noisier too as the ISO is increased but most camera manufacturers hide this with ever-heavier noise reduction.

At ISO 1600, only 1/16 of your sensor's light-gathering power is being used, causing you to lose 4 EV's worth of dynamic range (over-simplified to make the point,' dynamic range' being one of those unqualified photographic terms like 'resolution') or let's just say exposure. That's 16 times worse signal-to-noise ratio than at ISO 100. You may recall the days of recording on audio cassettes with not enough gain on the mike. Then, turning up the volume to hear comfortably . . . lots of hissy noise appears. That volume increase is what your camera does to make the image visible - with the same effect - more noise. And on the cassette player turning the tone down does . . . guess what.

In your image, "ISO" noise is quite evident even in the mid-tones as is the large amount of smoothing (noise reduction) done by the converter to hide it - IMHO. I took the liberty of cropping your image and upsizing it "nearest neighbor" (to preserve pixel appearance) and I hope that it illustrates the point:



Some folks like that "grainy" appearance and if you do then more power to your elbow! I've seen a post or two that has deliberately used very high ISOs for artistic effect. Personally, I stay below ISO 200 and, if it's too dark or the subject is doing Mach 1+, I avoid the shot.

The petal colors look a little odd to my eye but, not knowing the subject, can't really comment. Well, after another look, maybe I can. This is a view of the brightness (B in HSB) of you flower:



The color-picker tells me there are many pixels at the 255 level and most of the others are close to that - meaning that there is very little contrast within the petals and that there are false colors due to channel clipping.

Does your editor have an HSB or HSV (same thing) color-picker option?

Perhaps the original subject was quite a bit more colorful?

[JBW]

Ted, here is the original and I do have a lot to learn

[xpatUSA]

Ted, here is the original and I do have a lot to learn

Ah, yes, the original colors are more natural-looking and the petal colors aren't 'blown' anywhere. Good job!

[JBW]

Ah, yes, the original colors are more natural-looking and the petal colors aren't 'blown' anywhere. Good job!



Thankfully the problems were with my skills more than with my equipment. My skills can be upgraded much less expensively.