2019 Project 52 by David (dnperfors)

[dnperfors]

And another public announcement for participating in the project 52 of 2019. In 2016 I started one privately but I only got one image, after that I didn’t really have any more inspiration. One of the problems is that I didn’t have a theme or a clear plan of what to shoot and I tend to be distracted rather easily by other things (tv is one of them...)

In 2018 I bought a macro filter, and since I already like taking shots of flowers, I will use that as a basis for my project 52.
So these are the basic guidelines:

• The theme is mostly focused on flowers
• Macro will be explored a lot
• Try to take less photo’s by shooting with intend

Of course these are guidelines and not rules, for the end of January I have already a photograph of a blood moon in mind.

I would really appreciate comments and critiques.

Currently I can’t post my first photo, but I will do that during the weekend, or beginning of next week.
Update: This is no longer the case, the photo is uploaded...

[Shadowman]

Looking forward to seeing your images.

[dnperfors]

Week1 by David Perfors, on Flickr

This first photo was taken in the Windsor Great Park / Virginia Water. I really don't know what kind of flower this is. When I took this photo I only had a few minutes the time and didn’t have my tripod at hand. This is noticeably in the middle of the flower which is not completely in focus. The DOF is just a bit too shallow. But since I no longer can go to Virginia Water, this is the best I could do.

Although I took this photo on New Years Eve, my calendar tells me it was already week 1.

C&C are welcome.

Technical details
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 (Micro 4/3)
Lens: 45mm + macro filter
Aperture: F/3.2
Shutterspeed: 1/30
ISO: 500

[Rufus]

There are some pleasing colours, a nicely blurred background, and good overall exposure, but as you say, David, the DOF is not right. A little extra information might help us comment. For example, the lens, apperture, speed and did you you use the macro filter this time?

[dnperfors]

There are some pleasing colours, a nicely blurred background, and good overall exposure, but as you say, David, the DOF is not right. A little extra information might help us comment. For example, the lens, apperture, speed and did you you use the macro filter this time?

Thanks David for your comment, I have added the technical details to the original post.

[Geoff F]

I would crop a bit tighter on the right side. Sometimes a little negative space works well but in this case the background adds distraction, particularly that bright spot in the top right corner.

Flower portraits are difficult subjects, particularly when shot outside where you have limited control over background and light angles. If I find myself in a position where I need a shallow focus depth to blur the background I take about 2 to 4 shots with different focus points and do a merge so as to control exactly what is in or outside the sharp focus area. But that does require suitable editing software.

[dnperfors]

Thanks for the suggestions Geoff. I actually did play a little bit with the crop, but I didn’t really look for distractions in the background. I will take that into account next week.
Focus stacking is something I want to try out in the future, but for now I might want to do some dodge & burning to make that white blobs a bit less overpowering.

[billtils]

David

You are proposing an interesting journey and I look forward to following your progress. This image is a good start. The depth of field issue has been mentioned but don't worry! A shallow depth of field is inevitable in this kind of work, and there are limited options for dealing with it. One is to get further away from the subject and then crop but you may be limited by the M4/3 format of your camera - I don't know how far it can be pushed.

I have a friend who does a lot of flower close-up work and uses DoF creatively to make a softer composition, but if you want to go for maximum sharpness throughout the image then you will have to use focus stacking. There are several contributors here whose work you can follow, including DanK.

[dnperfors]

Hi Bill,

I am not worrying merely saying that I should’ve used a different aperture. For next time I just should take more time, use my tripod and pay a bit more attention to the background.
Perhaps I am just a bit harsh to myself, but a project 52 is partly about learning right?
I will go and check out the work of other contributors

[billtils]

... I should’ve used a different aperture.... but a project 52 is partly about learning right?
I will go and check out the work of other contributors

David

There's a limit to what you can achieve by going to smaller apertures in macro work as image degradation will cut in at some point (in my case, anything narrower than f/18).

Indeed that's a good point about P52 so go for it. And yes, there's a lot of help available here from some excellent contributors, including Geoff who has already posted.

[dnperfors]

Week 02 - Project 52 2019 by David Perfors, on Flickr

Technical details:

• ISO 100
• Aperture: f/22
• Shutterspeed: 1/125
• Flash in the lower left corner (only light source)
• Macro filter

Well, here is week 2. This time I used a plant we have in our kitchen window. I believe it is some sort of Bromelia.

I knew I wanted to have a very dark background, so that the flower would be the main focus of the photo. I used a technique that I suggested to Sandy (skittersburg) in this topic. Although there is a black cloth somewhere, setting the aperture to f/22 minimizes the amount of natural light, turning most of the lights off here in Europe also helps. To get the correct exposure, I needed to use a flash. Since I don't own remote triggers, I actually used my on camera flash to trigger the remote flash. To make sure it doesn't lit the flower, I covered it with a piece of paper.

To get to this image, I actually cropped out most annoying elements. For reference, I attach the unedited photo as well.

C&C are welcome, also on the post processing part

[Urbanflyer]

In terms of composition you might reconsider the positives of the original. I agree the green is distracting but the pattern repetition of the leaves is pleasing to my eye. The softer light is another element which created a different, but potentially pleasing effect. Nice to see experiments that help us grow.

[Geoff F]

Another very difficult subject, David.

Lighting is frequently a problem with this sort of scene. Direct sunlight or flash from one position, often creates deep shadow areas and over exposed hot spots. Sometimes you can use that potential problem to create more dramatic scenes but other times it becomes something which is best avoided. I frequently try to block direct harsh directional lighting by using some form of deflector, such as my Lastolite Difflector or even simply by using my body to create light shadow. Ideally, I shoot under a lightly overcast sky.

With some subjects, such as live insects, flash will prove to be the least problematic of several poor alternatives. In that case, I set my camera manually to suit the subject then apply some flash exposure compensation to suit the ambient light level. Typical settings for my insect shots would be 1/200 F11 Iso 200 to 400. Occasionally I will fit a Lastolite Micro Apollo over my flash head to give a wider flash area for really close shots; but my experience has been that it doesn't really make much difference when you get more than 3 feet from the subject.

A couple of desk lamps with daylight bulbs can produce a useful cheap alternative to more expensive 'proper studio lighting'. But remember you are taking flower portraits which really require as much care as a formal portrait of a person.

Some people like to see a few slight hot spots, as long as they don't become overly distracting. However, I tend to clone over any which look too harsh. Using a clone brush with reduced opacity can produce a useful effect. Somewhere around 50% opacity usually works for me.

[dnperfors]

Thanks Judith for your comment. I did try to get the patterns, but somehow they didn’t work for me, mostly because of how this photo is framed. Some other photos in the serie were better framed, but the lighting was even worse.

Thanks Geoff for writing up your experience. I was struggling with getting the right light. For what I had around, this was probably the best I could do. I did try to soften the light by bouncing the flash, but I got a very dull image. (And I started to notice I had not enough hands...)

My plan is to see what the weather is like on Friday and take some shots during the day, possibly of the same plant.

[dnperfors]

Well, the weather was not as I had hoped, it was much colder than expected. Therefore I couldn't use the same plant outside. However I was able to make another photo:

Week 3 - Project 52 2019 by David Perfors, on Flickr

Technical details:

• ISO: 200
• Apperture: f10
• Shutter speed: 1/6
• Macro filter

What do you think?

[Geoff F]

The main subject area is OK, David, but two things are causing problems. There is a lot of out of focus stem which, because it is out of focus, is taking up space without adding anything to the general scene. If you had managed to extend the sharp focus area down to those emerging side buds you would have a much greater area of interest. Possibly a slightly different camera angle would have enabled better focus; or alternatively, this is another situation where focus stacking is required.

Secondly, you have several overly bright areas in the background which is distracting. With this sort of scene, getting an acceptable background is as important as your main subject. You should be able to tone down those areas with a little editing but, when possible, the best method is to carefully adjust your lighting to prevent those areas in the first place.

Yes, I know, it is difficult to adjust the angle or brightness of the sun. But, often I find I am able to use a hand or some other device which can be placed somewhere to just exclude light on those background problem spots. Another situation which requires 3 hands!

I always spend a lot of time getting my backgrounds as close to perfect as possible. This means removing any bits of light coloured plant material which would clearly show up as brighter spots in my photos.

Frequently, I engage in quite a bit of time removing these bits then looking at the scene through my viewfinder once again before returning to the background and picking out more little bits which I had previously failed to notice. This can be a rather trying chore but it is better to remove these problems before shooting than struggling to clone them out later.

Then, when I look at my first shots on the review screen I often find yet more missed problems which need cleaning up prior to eventually producing a decent clean image. This does become 'irritating' when kneeling in mud or prickly ground but a little bit of extra preparation time definitely makes a noticeable difference to the final photograph.

[dnperfors]

Thanks Geoff for your comments.
I already cropped a lot of the out of focus stem, but by changing the angle of the camera, I would have had a big white wall in the shot, which was even more distracting... My intention was to use the stem (even though slightly out of focus) as a leading line to the knob.
That being said, it makes your next remark hit the mark. The bright parts could be darkened, or even removed. And I just didn’t take the time to do that. However, I used the image as my desktop background and I actually didn’t mind. But I do see your point.
I will try to take even more time to look at the background next time I take an photo like this.

[dnperfors]

I am a bit late in posting the photo's for week 4 and 5. Actually I didn't take the photo of week 4 on time, but I took it on the same day as the photo for week 5.


Week 4 - Project 52 2019 by David Perfors, on Flickr

I did try to get a better angle, but when I was ready to click the shutter, some children came running by and the butterfly flew away.... such a shame

ISO: 2000 (it was inside and badly lid)
Aperture: F11
Shutter: 1/60


Week 5 - Project 52 2019 by David Perfors, on Flickr

This one sat perfectly still for a long time, enough time for met to get out my macro filter and play around with it.

ISO: 2000 (it was inside and badly lid)
Aperture: F16
Shutter: 1/60

I will post my photo for week 6 tonight...

[Rufus]

Weeks 4 & 5
I don't know much about butterflies, but they appear to have the wings up which reduces the depth of field issues. That being the case, might you have been able to use a wider aperture (maybe f/5.6) to reduce the ISO?

Week 4 appears to be a crisper image than Week 5 so Prefer Week 4.

The Week 4 butterfly contrasts nicely with the pale foliage. It has some blue on the wing, which makes me think it ws perhaps shot through glass with a blue reflection? It would be a quite a challenge to clone it out. I assume the brown colours are the natural colour that you wish to preserve. If not, I might be tempted to try selectively lightening the butterfly, but only by a very little.

[dnperfors]

It has some blue on the wing, which makes me think it ws perhaps shot through glass with a blue reflection?

There is no glass, the butterflies were flying around freely. However, the other side of the wings where very light blue, I think that is what peeping through the wing.

might you have been able to use a wider aperture (maybe f/5.6) to reduce the ISO?

I might have, but than I would have lost a lot of focus. If I remember correctly I used a macro filter for both photo's, so going lower did make focussing more difficult.

You can expect more butterfly photo's in the future, since I found these guys in a nearby zoo...