2018 Project 52, First Quarter, by Joe Small (Joebranko)

[Manfred M]

Agreed, the foreground, especially the bush on the left hand side, is not in focus. I'm not certain that your horizon is level either; a slight clockwise rotation might be required.

[Geoff F]

That scene is very difficult/impossible to achieve good focus stacking. I find that small moveable items like leaves need to be in the same focus shot as the background behind them to work well. Ideally, there will be some firm areas with easy to follow focus separation so the required stacking selections will be obvious, even to the auto stacking software. I often get problems with things like insect legs where the software can't decide between selecting the leg or the background.

Sometimes, I have to do a bit of editing before stacking to make the choices easier. Such as blurring or removing certain items.

It is very easy to miss an area which should have been in focus. 'If only I had taken one more shot' is an all too frequent realisation.

With this particular image, I suspect a crop/clone of the left side and bottom will still produce a salvageable result.

[joebranko]

Agreed, the foreground, especially the bush on the left hand side, is not in focus. I'm not certain that your horizon is level either; a slight clockwise rotation might be required.

Thanks Manfred. On reflection it seems to me that all the horizons
must be
levelled the same, or does the alig ing function take care of that.?

[joebranko]

Thanks Geoff..Methinks this will need lots of practice!

[joebranko]

Another practice in photoshop using focus merging. This one I had to cheat; I deleted any image of the geese in the mid ground that looked even slightly soft, and I deleted all images of geese in the other 2 exposures. I like this one better than the last one.

[Geoff F]

Better, Joe, but I can see a few blurred leaves; I would spend a bit of time cloning them out.

Have you tried this technique on some simpler scenes, such as clearer landscapes where there is a definite distinction between foreground, middle distance and far distant areas.

At the moment you are starting with the really difficult stuff. OK, that means jumping straight in and learning fast, which is fine as long as you don't get discouraged while you are learning.

[joebranko]

This was taken from the escarpment overlooking Hamilton. I had intended to take some views of Hamilton and the Bay of Hamilton Harbour. Unfortunately a heavy mist covered the Bay so I settled for these

[Geoff F]

They work for me, Joe.

[Manfred M]

The first one does not work all that well for me Joe. The railing leads my view along it and right off the right hand edge of the image. It adds "leading lines" to the image, but they don't lead the viewer's eyes to where they should be going.

With the second one, the middle flagpole crosses the edge of the frame. A bit of sky above it would have given you a more solid image. One thing I try to do before I press the shutter release is to run my eye along the edge of the viewfinder to look at elements that either cross, touch or are too close to the edge of the frame and will readjust my framing to eliminate those elements.

[joebranko]

The first one does not work all that well for me Joe. The railing leads my view along it and right off the right hand edge of the image. It adds "leading lines" to the image, but they don't lead the viewer's eyes to where they should be going.

With the second one, the middle flagpole crosses the edge of the frame. A bit of sky above it would have given you a more solid image. One thing I try to do before I press the shutter release is to run my eye along the edge of the viewfinder to look at elements that either cross, touch or are too close to the edge of the frame and will readjust my framing to eliminate those elements.

Thanks Manfred. My vision for this was that the stair railing would act as a leading line.🤔. I only noticed the flag pole during pp. I must make a habit of checking the edges as you suggest

[Geoff F]

The stair rail still works for me, Joe, because you also have that distant line of stones which takes my view back towards the flowers and their bright colours. If it wasn't for that line and grass beyond, then the composition would definitely be wrong.

[skitterbug]

The back and forth about these two photos has been interesting. Flags are hard to catch 'open' and the photographer being back far enough to see the tip top of the pole in the scene. I had that problem with some I took of our veteran's park in our small town. It is a good picture in spite of the clipped flag pole.

For the flower/rock picture, I'd rather not see the railing. I like the natural look and flow of the rocks and flowers. If there had been something beyond the rail from the bottom step, then maybe it would have worked better? It looks like it would have been a difficult picture to set up? Sharp and clear - and the flowers are beautiful!

[joebranko]

These shots are from LaSalle Park Hamilton/Burlington. The first is of the sail boats ready to sail into Hamilton Harbour.



The second is one of the original inhabitants of the marina area, who I hope will never be displaced by the pleasure seekers, the "boat " people, who take over the area every summer. The bright orange reflection is of some of the boating paraphernalia sitting on the dock behind the goose.

[joebranko]

These pics were all taken during last weekend trip to Grand Bend on Lake Huron. They were all taken using my new Canon 77D.
The lens was my Canon 50/250mm kit lens.



I did not crop out the sky around this as I wanted to capture the illusion that the parasail was up in the clouds.





I should have removed some of the blue around this one.






I was happy to catch the detail of the cords of the parachute and the pull/tether rope.

[skitterbug]

Hi Joe - Looks like you have picked a wonderful camera. But of course it takes your added skill to produce photos worth keeping. This is a good series of photos! Kudos!

[Geoff F]

I suspect #2 would look better if you lost a bit from the right side, Joe. There would be several crop options for doing that.

All the others work OK for me.

[joebranko]

I suspect #2 would look better if you lost a bit from the right side, Joe. There would be several crop options for doing that.

All the others work OK for me.

Thanks Geoff. I agree with the crop.

[joebranko]

Thanks Sandy. I appreciate your comments.

[joebranko]

Pictures from Italy:

Chiesa dei Santi Gervaso e Protaso in Baveno. Italy. This church built (I think) in the twelfth century has a separate baptistery, not shown. This portico, built in the 18th century, has paintings along the walls depicting the Stations of the Cross.






The portico showing the Stations of the Cross.





The church with the baptistery on the right.

[skitterbug]

Fun vacation? Looks like you were in an interesting area!

I like the first two photos better than the third. I think it is very hard to take a photo of a taller building from below and have it look right. Also you clipped the cross at the top. Whether that makes or breaks the photo is probably a personal feeling but I like seeing it in entirety. All three are keepers though because of the story they tell.