Another shot of the strange red blossomed bush in our garden

[JBW]

Developing a better work flow. Hopefully achieving better results? First in Sony Express, sharpening, distortion reduction, cropping, noise reduction, cropping, highlights,exposure,levels,curves, and then into Picasa and or Gimp for scaling, sharpening and possible filters.

[Wavelength]

Lovely

[tao2]

Hi Brian,

"Manifest plainness
Embrace simplicity"...

sharpening, distortion reduction, cropping, noise reduction, cropping, highlights,exposure,levels,curves, and then into Picasa and or Gimp for scaling, sharpening and possible filters.

"Hack away at the inessentials"

90% of the above can be done in camera or with a wee bit forethought; planning, with an image in yer head. Didye want a photo of the flower, in its environment or didye want a bare outline for work in post processing ? It's as if yer aim is tae get tae PP and not tae get tae an image ye see.

Ah'd start by sorting out DoF...

[bnnrcn]

Nice one Brian.I would darken the BG though

[JBW]

Hi Brian,

"Manifest plainness
Embrace simplicity"...





"Hack away at the inessentials"

90% of the above can be done in camera or with a wee bit forethought; planning, with an image in yer head. Didye want a photo of the flower, in its environment or didye want a bare outline for work in post processing ? It's as if yer aim is tae get tae PP and not tae get tae an image ye see.

Ah'd start by sorting out DoF...

Admittedly the DoF is not quite as deep as it could have been.

You raise a valid point and perhaps the answer is in my tag line. I think of myself as a photopainter. I go into the garden to see what pops out at me. When I come back in I try to create the best photopainting that I can. There are times this involves a lot of pp, there are times it doesn't. This is the only photography group/club I belong to so i have no idea how much pp is 'normal'.

One thing I do know is that i have been doing more in the camera of late and less in the pp.

[JBW]

Nice one Brian.I would darken the BG though

then best have a chat with Myra she keeps telling me my bg's are toooooo dark.

[JBW]

Lovely

I agree, lovely it is.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[JBW]

Nicely captured.

Thanks and just out of curiosity where is 'WNY"

[bnnrcn]

then best have a chat with Myra she keeps telling me my bg's are toooooo dark.

[tao2]

Hi Brian,

Painterly effects (photo painting) , is something ah'm interested in as well. Ah try tae use as little PP as possible, preferring tae use the camera abilities and my own experiences. Shots below have minimum PP, basic sharpening , slight adjust of WB in some. Admittedly some of these are on film.

Fujica ST901+Fujinon 55/F1.8 (on film) - Using the "get close then angle the camera slightly" method ah mentioned tae you before.




Sony a700 (The a77's uncle) + Industar 50/f3.5



Sony a700 + Helios 44-2 - again making use of DoF tae emphasize the foreground by diffusing the background.




Ah think background choice is as important as the subject.

What I've found, is that using old manual lenses with digital bodies, removes that artificial - too good to be true- likeness and producing a warmth which makes such a difference in flower shots especially.

Ye can get a plain adaptor (alpha/M42) for a couple of dollars and a 50mm M42 lens from $5+. Mebbe worth investigating?

[JBW]

First off, any decent reading of mythology and history clearly indicates the Greeks were Scots who hating winter and preferring (even a Scot can have bad taste) wine over Single Malt migrated to warmer climes.

Now back to photography. I will begin searching for old lenses and an adaptor.

Your first shot is a shot the likes of which I have dreamed about taking.

We are in the process of changing our garden and shooting areas are part of the plan.

I am guessing when you say your camera's capabilities you are talking about more than RAW? there are many options in JPEG with my Sony and it seems that it is time to explore them.

This is going to be fun.
B.

[tao2]

Hi Brian,

Rarely shoot raw. My Sony is set on ...

DMF
Aperture Priority; which means that ah set the aperture on my manual lens and the camera "reads" the aperture setting.
AdobeRGB
AWB
D-R+...Level 3
ISO - chosen on the day or even the hour
Quality - XFine
Image size L(12 MPX)

These settings are, of course, very flexible but ah find them right for most conditions.

[xpatUSA]

. . . just out of curiosity where is "WNY"

I think it's West New York, as in the western part of New York State but not New York City (NYC).

"New York, New York: so good they named it twice" (some old song, Sinatra? Springsteen?)