My christmas cactus is blooming nicely right now so I decided to try a few photos with it... any suggestions on improvment would be appreciated...
File: Cactus_0954-m1-640.jpg
File size: 80KB
Image Serial Number: 109-0954
Camera Model: Canon EOS 10D
Camera serial number: 1020300016
Firmware: Firmware Version 1.0.1
Date/Time: 2003:11:18 12:14:12
Shutter speed: 4 sec
Aperture: 22
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous: frame 1
ISO: 100
Lens: 105.0 mm
Focal length: 105.0mm
AF mode: Manual Focus
Image size: 417 x 640
Rotation: none
Image quality: Fine
White balance: Auto
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
Default settings
Beautiful shot John, I wouldn't change a thing...except maybe quantity!
Lets see some more!
I was just home for the weekend and our Xmas Cactus was in full bloom also. It was beautiful! Unfortunately I didn't bring my tripod and so my one shot that I took came out blurry.
Do I dare to criticize Master Setzler? I don't feel worthy :-))
But since you asked... I love the colour saturation and the contrast against the pure black background. Lovely composition. The touch of backlighting in the upper right corner ads nice sparkle to the flower. But I think it needs to be a tiny-bit itsy-bitsy more in focus. Especially the lover middle part with the seed-carrying pistils since it somehow leads my eyes to it.
In case you intended a softer look, then the whole photo is just great.
John, I just noticed something on one of your images in PBase.
This image Cactus_0954-m1-640.jpg (basically a copy of the one you originally posted here) looks so much clearer. I think it might be the way DPC shrinks down images to the 640 pixels limit. Or did you re-size it yourself for here and that what caused the softness?
May I ask what you use as a background? I usually use foamcore black board, but I can never get it so beautifully black. It comes out grey and fixing it in Photoshop usually takes away from the main subject.
May I ask what you use as a background? I usually use foamcore black board, but I can never get it so beautifully black. It comes out grey and fixing it in Photoshop usually takes away from the main subject.
This is black foamcore :) The trick is to pose it at an angle where the ambient light does not hit the surface of it.
May I ask what you use as a background? I usually use foamcore black board, but I can never get it so beautifully black. It comes out grey and fixing it in Photoshop usually takes away from the main subject.
This is black foamcore :) The trick is to pose it at an angle where the ambient light does not hit the surface of it.
That's great to know. I just need more practice to do it properly.
That foamcore is awesome stuff. I love it. Just wish I could find some more subtle colors.
I agree with Timmi, there's something different in the quality of the image at PBase vs. the one you linked here at DPC. Don't know what it is, but it lost something in the translation. :(
I'm impressed with the macro lens.. it does a great job :)
I like this one better then the one posted here for the same reasons. It's cleaner, very sharp. I also like that I'm seeing more of the flower.
Great colors on both of them.
That foamcore is awesome stuff. I love it. Just wish I could find some more subtle colors.
Not sure if you have a Michael's craft store where you live, but I have purchased the foamcore board from there in black, light (sky) blue, green, white, and they have a navy blue that I haven't purchased yet.
John - Awesome shots!! I just wish I could find a Christmas Cactus! Wanted one for a few years now....
I agree with Timmi that a little more focus, especially on the foreground petals, of the flower would be nice. The focus is in that grey area where your either want it all in focus or with lesser DOF.
Since I can see you are already shooting at f/22 you are getting as much DOF as you can get.
You have two choices.
1-Use a different lense that allows more DOF to get it all in focus, or
2-Shoot at a lower f/number to decrease the DOF further to give it an "artsy" appearance but keeping the stamine in sharp focus.
I think the focus issues you guys are talking about are a result of the smaller image and the resampling that DPCprints does to the images... here is what this image really looks like:
John, this is a macro... the focus can´t cover all the flower, correct? This new shot are a bit more focused on petals, not in the middle bulb, that is more detailed region. I prefer the original look of shot. But the way that petals is disposed sugest more focus on it. May be you can rotate between 25 and 45 degree in the z axis to get the bulb on full focus and the petals as a shallow DOF background (bit softened).
John, I just noticed something on one of your images in PBase.
This image Cactus_0954-m1-640.jpg (basically a copy of the one you originally posted here) looks so much clearer. I think it might be the way DPC shrinks down images to the 640 pixels limit. Or did you re-size it yourself for here and that what caused the softness?
John, I just noticed something on one of your images in PBase.
This image Cactus_0954-m1-640.jpg (basically a copy of the one you originally posted here) looks so much clearer. I think it might be the way DPC shrinks down images to the 640 pixels limit. Or did you re-size it yourself for here and that what caused the softness?
Or am I just seeing it wrong way? Timmi's post
Thant is true for me as well. Anne
The one I posted here originally is a resampled version of the print image and is not as clear as the one i posted to pbase.
