Two of the very first flower macro shots I attempted

Nikon D80 / Sigma 105mm macro

Taken indoor, one with black cardboard as background

built-in flash, with white paper between flash and flower as cheapo-diffuser

Man, Orchids are the bomb aren't they? I like them both quite a lot.

If I was to be hyper critical, I am distracted by the white band across the top left corner in the closeup shot. You might try to fill the area with a slightly darker pink from the image. I would do it with a lot of transperancy though.

The second shot reminds me of a cover shot I did for a garden center catalogue. I would like to see a little more of the stem, but it might just be my monitor being too contrasty.

I really have to get out and do some shooting. You guys are inspiring me.

Really like the second image. sharp, great subject and composition and good framing.

Excellent presentation

Man, Orchids are the bomb aren't they? I like them both quite a lot.

If I was to be hyper critical, I am distracted by the white band across the top left corner in the closeup shot. You might try to fill the area with a slightly darker pink from the image. I would do it with a lot of transperancy though.

The second shot reminds me of a cover shot I did for a garden center catalogue. I would like to see a little more of the stem, but it might just be my monitor being too contrasty.

I really have to get out and do some shooting. You guys are inspiring me.

Mate, I'm using a dodgy old laptop for all my photowork. It is almost impossible to evaluate the tones of dark items on the screen, if I move my head slightly and change the viewing angle, the dark parts change their tone a lot. One day I will buy a normal desktop screen, or a new laptop, but wife tells me "it's not necessary"... ?!?

Mate, I'm using a dodgy old laptop for all my photowork. It is almost impossible to evaluate the tones of dark items on the screen, if I move my head slightly and change the viewing angle, the dark parts change their tone a lot. One day I will buy a normal desktop screen, or a new laptop, but wife tells me "it's not necessary"... ?!?

Aaargh, reminds me of my wife some twenty years ago when I was gagging for a Hasselblad and she thought it wasn't neccessary.....................I really miss her cooking!

...

If I was to be hyper critical, I am distracted by the white band across the top left corner in the closeup shot. You might try to fill the area with a slightly darker pink from the image. I would do it with a lot of transperancy though.

...

Your comment is really good, after thinking about it for a while I agree and think it will definitely look better without the white stripe. After spending 45 minutes on photoshop, I have to give up. I can't make it truly natural looking. I think I rather re-shoot an orchid, just need to go and buy a new one from Marks & Spencers. Unlike camera gear, there seems to be no limit to how many flowers I am allowed to buy.

Send me your bigger file and I will give it a shot for you.

Meanwhile here is a web sized version.

Canuck, that looks really good. I need to learn how to do this myself... what technique did you use?

Did you clone? using low opacity and paint over many times?

Did you copy out a section from somewhere else, transform it into right shape, paste it over? If so, how did you smooth the edges between the copied layer and the original?

I don't need it by teaspoon, but would appreciate guidance

cheers

nm

105 is a great lens ( I have the Nikn one, guess its almost all the same).

First shot, I would say u need more power !!!!!!. ( depending what u want to achieve). I changed from film to digital for underwater for one simple reasons, my friends were getting far more depth in the pictures. Since ur on digital already, u have the possibility to get more depth. Typically we used to "fry the crittters" with alot of strobes , allowing u to reduce the appeture to a pin hole, and get more depth.

Always personal (whats nice, whats not ), but i would have preferred more depth on the center of the picture putting the whole bud in focus, and the leaf not focused.

The middle looks a tad under exposed too, possibly cause the closeness of the lens to the flash.

As for all that editing stuff, i am too lazy for that ( no time either) . Levels Adjustment and maybe Saturation is as far as i go. I have a automatic button to handle bad pictures "Delete".

Edited January 14, 200818 yr by skippybangkok

105 is a great lens ( I have the Nikn one, guess its almost all the same).

First shot, I would say u need more power !!!!!!. ( depending what u want to achieve). I changed from film to digital for underwater for one simple reasons, my friends were getting far more depth in the pictures. Since ur on digital already, u have the possibility to get more depth. Typically we used to "fry the crittters" with alot of strobes , allowing u to reduce the appeture to a pin hole, and get more depth.

Always personal (whats nice, whats not ), but i would have preferred more depth on the center of the picture putting the whole bud in focus, and the leaf not focused.

The middle looks a tad under exposed too, possibly cause the closeness of the lens to the flash.

As for all that editing stuff, i am too lazy for that ( no time either) . Levels Adjustment and maybe Saturation is as far as i go. I have a automatic button to handle bad pictures "Delete".

Hi skippy, you're right, getting the whole bud in focus would be better. I will add lens blur to the rest. Just need to get myself a new orchid now.

As for the editing stuff... I actually think it's fun and enjoy it.

cheers

nm

Canuck, that looks really good. I need to learn how to do this myself... what technique did you use?

Did you clone? using low opacity and paint over many times?

Did you copy out a section from somewhere else, transform it into right shape, paste it over? If so, how did you smooth the edges between the copied layer and the original?

I don't need it by teaspoon, but would appreciate guidance

cheers

nm

Well actually I took a shortcut. I took the other upper corner copied and pasted it, flipped it horizontally, lined it up so that you white border lines lined up. Then I deleted everything past the white border so the outside join was in the white.

Than I simply lowered the opacity of the upper layer a touch and got a fairly big soft edged brush on the eraser tool knocked the eraser tool opacity down to about 10% and began to take away anything that didn't look right. I was able to keep most of the original petal on the left side of the orchid. Only the very top is from the other side.

Hi skippy, you're right, getting the whole bud in focus would be better. I will add lens blur to the rest. Just need to get myself a new orchid now.

As for the editing stuff... I actually think it's fun and enjoy it.

cheers

nm

Cheers. Editing is a personal choice. I know guys who spend alot of time per pic, and love it, and come out with good results. Its just too time consuming for me with other things to do, and I enjoy taking the pic more.

I used to take pics of very small shrimps underwater, and on film , u would get their eyes in focus, and claws could not focus. After moving to digital, i got the claws, eyes and tail in focus ( at i..e f 54 - and big strobes).