Sometimes I just feel the need for a dramatic shot. Backlit red torch.

[JBW]

[NorthernFocus]

Brian, I never know what to expect when I read your thread titles. But yes this one is right on. It is dramatic. IMO it would be even more so if cropped to eliminate the smaller blossoms at far right of frame. Nicely seen and captured.

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[JBW]

Brian, I never know what to expect when I read your thread titles. But yes this one is right on. It is dramatic. IMO it would be even more so if cropped to eliminate the smaller blossoms at far right of frame. Nicely seen and captured.

I had considered cropping out the small red blossoms but a trilogy is somehow more dramatic than a duality. At least to me.

[JBW]

Very nice.

yup, this one feels right.

[Round Tuit]

Brian,

This is really good. I agree entirely with the trilogy as it works very well. If I were to be nit picky, I would suggest slightly darkening the green leaves in the centre of the shot.

Excellent!

Andre

[Kris V]

I absolutely love this picture!

[Rebel]

Very nice Brian, the colours compliment each other well.

[JBW]

Brian,

This is really good. I agree entirely with the trilogy as it works very well. If I were to be nit picky, I would suggest slightly darkening the green leaves in the centre of the shot.

Excellent!

Andre

I thought it might make it too dark but a light touch...

[JBW]

I absolutely love this picture!

so do I

[JBW]

Very nice Brian, the colours compliment each other well.

it is amazing what a little work with layers and curves can do to bring out the complementary qualities of colors.

[Manfred M]

Agreed that it is dramatic and that your dark background eliminates a busy background and the edges of the images are quite clean. In this image you have fixed some of the issues I had pointed out in a couple of your recent posts.

The backlighting works really well. Look at how you get some interesting texture in some of the petals.

Next step; try to accomplish this without severely underexposing the shot. Look at the histogram:



Best is to get a correct in-camera exposure and then do the rest in post. That gets you a low noise image to work with. Backlighting will fool your exposure meter and exposure compensation (or manual exposure) can be used to correct this.

[JBW]

Agreed that it is dramatic and that your dark background eliminates a busy background and the edges of the images are quite clean. In this image you have fixed some of the issues I had pointed out in a couple of your recent posts.

The backlighting works really well. Look at how you get some interesting texture in some of the petals.

Next step; try to accomplish this without severely underexposing the shot. Look at the histogram:



Best is to get a correct in-camera exposure and then do the rest in post. That gets you a low noise image to work with. Backlighting will fool your exposure meter and exposure compensation (or manual exposure) can be used to correct this.

here is the original shot and histogram. it was underexposed but I also did a lot of darkening in post processing. I was even using a tripod.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the information, Brian. That explains a lot.

You used a bit of a brute force attack on this image and it shows.

Ensuring that you have a properly set black point and white point is important, and then adjusting the gamma downward will usually give you a better looking image. Selective darkening allows you to protect the tonal values of your subject.

[JBW]

Thanks for the information, Brian. That explains a lot.

You used a bit of a brute force attack on this image and it shows.

Ensuring that you have a properly set black point and white point is important, and then adjusting the gamma downward will usually give you a better looking image. Selective darkening allows you to protect the tonal values of your subject.

i did use selective darkening in various areas. I am definitely in the experimenting stage with white and black combined with gamma. I find it possible to spend an almost obscene amount of time playing with those settings.

[JBW]

Thanks for the information, Brian. That explains a lot.

You used a bit of a brute force attack on this image and it shows.

Ensuring that you have a properly set black point and white point is important, and then adjusting the gamma downward will usually give you a better looking image. Selective darkening allows you to protect the tonal values of your subject.

okay here is a question that just might end up in some people arguing: how do you know when the black and white points are set properly.

I have tried (with no success) to use the tear droppers. Usually I just move the triangles in a bit and see I have blown anything. Then adjust and readjust with the gamma till i get something that looks good.

[Manfred M]

okay here is a question that just might end up in some people arguing: how do you know when the black and white points are set properly.

The "rule of thumb" I have been taught by several pros is that the black point should be set just before the shadow detail is lost and the white point should be set just before one sees highlight clipping. This of course assumes that there is a black point (i.e. a value that is black in the image) and a white point (a value that is white in the image).

The only significant except to the "rule" is that specular highlights should be ignored as these will clip, regardless and the white point should not use these. Rather another white part of the image should be selected. If printing, the specular highlights need to be brought back to ensure that the printer actually deposits some ink and there are no un-inked areas on the print. I routinely take my blacks to a value of 15 and my white are taken back to 240 for printing.

If the image has no black point or white point (this can happen on some rare occasions), I'll just make a judgement call when setting them.