Baby Beehive Ginger

[JBW]

ISO 100 Shutter Speed 1/8s. ~ F/16

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[JBW]

Nice shot.

it certainly has pop

[Manfred M]

Back to your old habit of underexposing?

[JBW]

Back to your old habit of underexposing?

That's an interesting question.If you run your pointer over the blossom it reads both sides of the middle. Certainly the bg is on the underexposed side but on the blossom.

Sony has a neat little thingamajig called 'Zebra'. When you've got stripes you have got over exposed areas. I intentionally eliminated the stripes, or at least most of them. However I kept the numbers higher than -1.0. As well both the three colour histogram and the overall histogram didn't look quite as extreme as the one you have posted after my pp.

So the short answer, after the long answer is 'I don't think so'.

PS the bg was in the shade.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the information Brian.

I'm familiar with the Zebra Stripes. They are common in the video industry and my Panasonic camera uses them too. Panasonic which has its roots in video, just like Sony. Just remember that they are based on the JPEG data and tend to be a bit conservative and over-report what is in the raw data by around a stop. If you are working with JPEG in your edit, your workflow is fine.

If you are working with raw in Capture One (C1), you have a bit more colour data that you can access; around 1 stop at either end. Using the histogram in C1 is a better indication of that data that your camera has captured.

[JBW]

Thanks for the information Brian.

I'm familiar with the Zebra Stripes. They are common in the video industry and my Panasonic camera uses them too. Panasonic which has its roots in video, just like Sony. Just remember that they are based on the JPEG data and tend to be a bit conservative and over-report what is in the raw data by around a stop. If you are working with JPEG in your edit, your workflow is fine.

If you are working with raw in Capture One (C1), you have a bit more colour data that you can access; around 1 stop at either end. Using the histogram in C1 is a better indication of that data that your camera has captured.

I'm working in Raw. If I continue to shoot on the dark side I'll just turn off the stripes.

[DanK]

Brian,

I have an idea that might help.

I don't know your camera, but on all of my cameras, the display--including the histogram and zebra stripes--are based on the jpeg thumbnail created using whatever picture style is set, even if I am shooting raw. If your camera works that way, you can get more accurate histograms by choosing the picture style that does the least to the raw image in rendering the jpeg. With Canons, that style is called "faithful".

Dan

[rpcrowe]

On my monitor - this has a bit more "pop" yet doesn't go overboard...

[Manfred M]

You have a lot of tools in Capture One that can help you pull more out of your captures.

[JBW]

Thanks one and all for the responses. But now I'm in a dilemma. All of the suggestions involve brightening both the blossom and the bg. Which means I will lose the shot I saw.

The shot was dark, soft and earthy.

Can you suggest ways to improve the shot as a dark soft earthy shot? The blossom is close to pale honey in colour.

[DanK]

Perhaps select the blossom and brighten only that


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[JBW]

Perhaps select the blossom and brighten only that


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the blossom could certainly use some work

[JBW]

ISO 100 Shutter Speed 1/8s. ~ F/16

I went back yesterday and tried again. I think with the input I received that this is a better shot.



There was no direct sunlight, so there was no need to shoot such a dark scene. However it was fully in the shadows. I wanted to keep what I saw so I left it on the darkish side.
ISO 100 ~ Shutter Speed 0.4s ~ F/16 ~ Natural Light

Last year I did a series on a chrysalis which was both well received and a great learning experience for me. This Beehive ginger is in a safe location and if it grows to maturity will go through many changes over the next eight or so months. I bet you've already guessed? Unless something untoward happens to the plant this will become a long series.

[JBW]

Brian,

I have an idea that might help.

I don't know your camera, but on all of my cameras, the display--including the histogram and zebra stripes--are based on the jpeg thumbnail created using whatever picture style is set, even if I am shooting raw. If your camera works that way, you can get more accurate histograms by choosing the picture style that does the least to the raw image in rendering the jpeg. With Canons, that style is called "faithful".

Dan

with Sony it is named 'neutral' and it apparently works with RAW files. I used it for the latest shot.

[JBW]

ISO 100 Shutter Speed 1/8s. ~ F/16

Shot # 3

[Manfred M]

Shot #2 works better for me than the other two. It contains fewer distracting elements.

[JBW]

Shot #2 works better for me than the other two. It contains fewer distracting elements.

I'm guessing that what I consider a natural frame you are seeing as a distraction? Luckily with what could be a long series there's lots of time for exploring and improving.

[Manfred M]

I'm guessing that what I consider a natural frame you are seeing as a distraction? Luckily with what could be a long series there's lots of time for exploring and improving.

Brian - anything in the image that catches the viewer's attention and pulls their eyes away from the main subject is a distraction. Areas that are bright or high contrast meet that definition. In #2, there are distractions, but less than in the other images. Burn down the bright areas in the top left hand corner, and that will strengthen the shot.

Look at what Richard did in #9 and compare it to your shot. Richard's image has a less distracting background.

[JBW]

Brian - anything in the image that catches the viewer's attention and pulls their eyes away from the main subject is a distraction. Areas that are bright or high contrast meet that definition. In #2, there are distractions, but less than in the other images. Burn down the bright areas in the top left hand corner, and that will strengthen the shot.

Look at what Richard did in #9 and compare it to your shot. Richard's image has a less distracting background.

I'll see hat I can do and post later.