Monarchs

[EyeofthePotatO]

I've lived in this boring town for most of my life. Now I discover the monarch butterflies think it's a winter resort. Who knew? I should add that this is my first foray into post production. As always, very new and love feedback.

[mythlady]

Well done, Joanne! They stop in my area too (Santa Cruz), and I've been out a couple of times to try to catch them. Often the clusters are so high up in the trees, it's difficult to get them without a long telephoto.

[EyeofthePotatO]

Thank you Elise. They are VERY high up there and they don't sit still either!
Spent most of my summers growing up in Santa Cruz so I am very familiar with Capitola. Shadowbrook was my absolute favorite place as a kid.

[mythlady]

Ah, Shadowbrook. Still there, still everyone's favorite "special occasion" place. Right down the street from me.

Nice to meet you, Joanne.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Joanne,

I should add that this is my first foray into post production. As always, very new and love feedback.

That's not bad at all.

The biggest problem with PP is that it is rather noisy which could have been dealt with by a third party application like Neat Image. It can be used stand alone if you don't have a compatible editing program.

I can't remember, did you say the SX210 doesn't do RAW?
If so, that will limit your PP abilities and especially for noise - unless you can turn the jpg sharpening down, or off, in camera. (so you do it all in PP after noise reduction)

Might suggest you make no more than 1000px high, to fit more people's screens.

Cheers,

[EyeofthePotatO]

Thank you Dave. I checked and you are correct, no raw data just jpeg. I am supposed to get some camera OJT from a friend of mine soon and he swears his goal is to get me to purchase a 'real' camera. I have been amazed at what this camera can do in the two months I've had it, but visiting this site makes me realize what it can't do. I know what I want to shoot but am limited by equipment.
I really appreciate the fact that you are willing to give me so much information. Generally friends & family will tell you they like a photo but can't tell you why. I love the honest feedback you give.

[Geoff F]

Just a suggestion, Joanne.

I often get noisy patches with my macro photos, and I find that I can usually improve them by a little application of a Blur Brush (maybe worded differently in some software) which tends to reduce the noise if you carefully paint over the problem area. You need to select a suitable brush size and opacity which may need altering as you work; and zoom the screen view for more complicated areas.

Not a total solution, but it may be worth trying.

[EyeofthePotatO]

I will try that Geoff. One of my friends gave me photoshop for my birthday and hopefully I can jump into post-production with the same enthusiasm I have for taking pictures. (It's not installed yet, but soon.)

[maloufn]

Well done Joanne. Your photography will never be the same again with Photoshop. I would recommend a site called Lynda.com if you are serious about learning it properly. It is audio visual tutorials done so professionally. You pay $25 a month until you have learnt enough and stop membership. Good luck. You have to start somewhere.

Nasseem