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Garry


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: A Bug's Life: Insects, Bugs, Beetle III (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-7D
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Date: Oct 27, 2013
Aperture: 8.0
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/400
Date Uploaded: Oct 27, 2013

 Don't have a macro lens, so trying to do this challenge was, well, a challenge. All I had was my little 50mm/1.8 which was interesting to work with. Took a bunch of photo's and maybe had 4 that I thought were any good. Because of no macro, I had to crop SEVERELY. This here is about a 125% crop. Surprised with cropping so much, I'm not seeing more pixelation! Anyway, was happy to see I could achieve somewhat of a macro shot with no macro lens!

Passable result, but can't compete with a real lens. Be happy (and surprised) with a 5.8+.

Lighting:
- Straight old sunlight at midday.

Processing:
- Import into LR3
- Crop to size
- Send to PS CS6
- Run DeFine to get rid of noise
- Run CEP4 >> Pro Contrast and Lighten/Darken filters
- Run SEP2 >> Structure (smooth) filter
- Overlay of the CEP4 and SEP2 layers on luminosity blend mode (approx. 75%). Masked out background, so effect limited to bee.
- Sharpened
- Contrast adjustment layer
- Levels adjustment layer
- Denoise again
- Send back to LR3
- Adjust Contrast and Fill Light
- Cloning to remove distracting spots/dirt
- Dodge and Burn
- Apply slight vignette
- Save for web.

[Nov. 1st, 2013 08:32:42 AM]

Wow, most surprising ... got up to a 6.5 with 3 days to go. But starting the freefall now.

Statistics
Place: 13 out of 72
Avg (all users): 6.5556
Avg (commenters): 7.3333
Avg (participants): 6.5676
Avg (non-participants): 6.5455
Views since voting: 518
Views during voting: 194
Votes: 81
Comments: 9
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Nikon D700
Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX Aspherical DG HSM for Nikon
 11/04/2013 10:36:45 PM
Tremendous shot, Garry. Hard to imagine it's possible with a 50mm considering focal distance and all. Severely underrated as well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
 11/04/2013 01:02:50 AM
Would not have guessed this was a 50mm...

Well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark III
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM II
11/04/2013 12:56:24 AM
Lucky 13! :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Kodak Easyshare C180
Canon EF 50mm f1.2 L
 11/04/2013 12:43:11 AM
Great score Garry!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon D750
Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8D
 11/03/2013 10:36:14 PM
Beautiful bee. voted earlier
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/03/2013 10:02:53 PM
The sharpness and detail are just incredible!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR
 11/03/2013 05:18:49 PM
His eyes look a little buggy :)

Commenting only
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark III
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM II
11/03/2013 04:59:48 AM
Amazing detail here. Absolutely love those eyes and he looks so fuzzy!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon Z8
Nikon NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8
 11/01/2013 06:46:39 PM
Lovely detail.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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