Its a nice moment, and I like the way both are looking away from the camera.

The original was presumably colour, and this is converted. For me, its come out overexposed. The method you use for conversion has a large impact on the result, and I dont know how you performed the conversion. The focus when you took the shot was on the groom, rather than the bride, and he appears sharper and more detailed than she does, which isnt ideal, though you can try sharpen the bride selectively more than the groom. Depending on the distance, using f/8 would have given a better result.


Ive uploaded a mod with exposure corrected, which gives some nice contrast thats missing in the original; I sharpened the bride more than the groom, - this presented a problem as small skin bumps and blemishes on her forehead were very visible, so I applied skin softening, leaving her eyes and mouth untouched.

I would love to see the colour version if you still have it, - you can upload it now as a modification to your own shot.

regards



Willie

This is a considerably improved shot from the last. Look at the tone and colour, - this is exactly what was lacking, and its terrific here.


The highlights are not blown, - they are close (the belt buckle is just blown), and they do what is intended by the application of oil, - reflect light around muscel to accentuate the form.


the pose is not great, - and its not a great idea to exclude an arm with a shot that focus on the body form, - but what an improvement!



regards



Willie

You did well under the circumstances.


Apart from a little noise reduction and sharpening, I would think theres too much out of focus snake compared to the main event, that mean head.

So uploaded a cropped mod, noise reduction and sharpening. Would make a nice print.



Regards



Willie

Its quite a good shot. What is it thats digitally manipulated? Is it the background, - and if so, what was the original colour, - its good to know as a reference.



Ive uploaded a mod. The image looks a bit flat to me (not the model!), needed a touch less exposure, and an increase in contrast, both done in the mod. I am unsure about the white balance, - I added a very small bias for red and yellow, about 4% in the colour balance adjustments. Ive enhanced the eye catchlights slightly, and finally cropped to A4, - which means adding space to the left.

How this appears to you and I requires a good, calibrated monitor, or youre in a bad position right at the start. Also keep in mind that when metering a dark subject with the camera, it will be inclined to overexpose. Take the black cat example, - when shooting one with no exposure comp, it will be grey. So maybe take this into account, and underexpose by 1 stop?


Take a look at the mod and see what you think. View large. Most of this can be done in LR.


Regards


Willie

Not a bad shot keith. Its quite soft on here, so I expect your original is likely sharper. If so, youve skipped a step in re sizing, - resize>save as with highest quality>open smaller image>check sharpness and apply as needed.


Then the image is a little underexposed, and when the sharpness and exposure is adjusted, it looks a lot better. The background, most often white is a good quick guide, - it should be closer to white that grey as it is her.

Cropping, as a general guide donr crop a joint, - the elbpw here, which is not cropped per se, but is where the bottom of the frame is. In the mod Ive cropped it hoger, using a 1- X 8 aspect ration, and added a small strip of background at the top.

Mod has crop, sharpening, exposure done.



Hope this helps



regards



Willie

This particular image is overexposed about 1 stop Nigel, and Ive loaded a mod with lowered exposure, and a little sharpening. I cant really tell why its overexposed, - the metering should have been more accurate, theres nothing in the shot for me that I can point to as a reason the camera decided to overexpose.

Paul have given you a lot of good information.

I assume this is shot outdoors, and as such is open to movement from the slightest breeze. If this is the case, the, even with a tripod, your shutter speed, depending on distance from the plant, needs to be faster. There is no really tack sharp area here for me, so perhaps you had some movement. Never autofocus if it can be avoided, - careful manual focus is always best; smaller shutter definitely gives a better chance of a sharper shot, bu then drives ISO up.

Much macro work is done indoors, using the tripod, and small apertures with ISO 100 or 200, and LONG shutter speeds, - a number of seconds not being unusual,. Use a remote shutter release, never touch that shutter release, and that allows you to avoid being in the shot.

So in summary, the light, the subject may not have been ideal. Im sure you will love macro, - and look forward to your progress.



Regards


Willie

Welcome Miti from a fellow Canadian.


Poppies they indeed are, and hard enough to find depending on which part of Canada you are located.


I like the creative way youve presented the shot, but personally prefer a more tradition crop and presentation.


I have uploaded a mod, - just scroll up this page and click the modifications tab, and view large. I adjusted the white balance, cropped, and added the border to fill out to closer to 1000 pixels.


Enjoy the site,


regards


Willie

Its another good shot, low as it should be.

You used the two watermarks in the last shot too, but the lighter one is very intrusive here, and it alsmost as if the Lizard is looking at it!

The Sun was mainly bebind and to the left, keaving the front of the Lizard in shade. Couple this with the large expanse of bright backlighting, and you have an underexposed lizard.

This is the text book scenario for popping your flash up, and using it to provide a balancing light on the front of the subject. Your exif data does not tell us what MODE you used, P,A,S M, so let us know.

Ive loaded a mod to emulate this, and how it would show the eye. As before, it needs to be sharpened a little more for the site, Ive done this also.



Hope this helps,



Regards



Willie

Really nice shot, very colourful.


In post processing, you need to brighten it just a little, perhaps 1/3 stop; and agter re sizing, sharpen a little more, and its lost a little sharpness here.

I would work a little on the eye to bring out detail, and catch-lights, - it makes the creature look more alive.



All done in the mod,



Regards



Willie

The original shot is wonderful, and you know youve overdone the mod. The mod is very close to an HDR image, in that all blacks are lifted, and all whites are subdued. The crop is good. I love the man and the kid in the background. The main character literally jumps off the image.

Keep in mind when you modify an image, what it is you want to achieve, and also keep in ind that the finished product should look reasonably "normal", as in as shot, if the conditions were perfect.

The area to focus on here is the man on the right. His face is underexposed. And that really all you need to focus on. When his face is exposed a little more, - not a whole lot, his eyes will appear a little lighter, and you will see natural catchlights there that you can enhance.


Ive used the original for mods, loaded 2 different tones in each. The images are straightened, which required the addition of space at the top.

If you like, I will provide a step by step description of what Ive done if you dont feel comfortable with it. Be positive too, youve discovered HDR al by yourself!



Regards


Willie

You havent loaded any exif data Richard, so the scope of critique is limited.

It appears quite sharp, nice detail. I could be seeing some noise, but I dont know your ISO, or if this is cropped from a larger image.

Overall it will benefit with some blacks = black for contrast and detail.


Ive done a mod with this done, noise reduction applied, and the image rotated to landscape in the A4 aspect ration. Ive given the insect a tiny reflection on his head that can make a big difference.


Hope this is helpful,



regards


Willie

Hi Joseph.


It looks like you were thinking when you set this up. You dialed in a -0.6 exposure compensation, because you were concerned that the highlights in the veggies from the window light would be a problem.


Program mode did the rest, selecting a high ISO, and the other settings, - so you had control over the exposure compensation.

So, back to thinking about how the camera works when you set this up.

The metering system, in Program mode, has already seen the highlights, and before you took any actions, the exposure was set by the camera to make an exposure that accounts for the bright spots. To do this, it likely reduced exposure slightly, but ended up with a decent average.

Then you told it to underexpose by -0.6, on top of what it had already figured out. This resulted in a shot that is a full 1 stop underexposed, - your 0.6, and whatever the camera decided, which was around -0.3.


After you take the shot, you can review it in playback, and press information until you see the histogram. If its not extending to the right, its underexposed, as this histogram shows, and then you can simply remove the -0.6 and try another shot, all within one minute!


Ive uploaded a mod that shows the image with a +1 exposure. Ive sharpened a little, and reduced the side of some bright spots.



Hope you find this helpful,



Regards


Willie

Welcome to EPZ Andy.

Beautiful natural light shot. Its very nice as it is, - bit with a little sharpening.

I can, if you like, benefit with just a little more contrast. if you look at the histogram, it doesnt come near the left limit, meaning theres no blacks in the shot, and we know her irises are black in reality. So just a tiny bit overexposed. + 1/3 might have been better. It works for softness, but I think getting the contrast and colour tone right, and then using a diffuse glow works better.

Theres room to go down to ISO 400, at the same aperture, with 1/225 being in range for an IS lens, - but to be honest, I cant see any noise.


Ive uploaded 2 mods, first as suggested re contrast and colour, second with a little diffuse glow, and rotated horizontally.


Enjoy the site.


Hope this helps,



regards


Willie

A very nice portrait, framed well.

The right can be cloned in to isolate the woman; to me, she appears a little too yellow, so Ive addressed that; the facial lines need to be accentuated IMO, - shes earned them, so contrast is good for this; I would de saturate the background a little.


Loaded 3 mods. First is as above with the lines more visible, tone altered, and crop; secong is a very harsh version which uses a style by a photographer called Andrej Dragan http://andrzejdragan.com/ though its barely close; and finally a lightly toned mono, which I especially like.



Regards



Willie

Conas ta tu Niall?


Im going to help with this whole focus thing, autofocus, depth of field, focal points.



Read this, fill in you camera, lens, aperture and distance details and you will figure it out: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

So theres a couple of things to know and it removes confusion. After youve done the above homework assignment only...

First is, you can let the camera chose exactly where to focus (instant death with close up photography), or you can take control of exactly what you want it to focus on. By default, the camera has multiple FOCUS points that flash when you have focus. Its telling you it has something within the points that flashed focused, so you can take the shot. But that poor Bee is out on its own there, - ignored by the camera FOCUS points. When you take control, you make the camera use only ONE FOCUS point, and you place that focus point on Mr Bee, and it will FOCUS on it. So the Bee will be in focus, and then become the FOCAL point of your shot. Its very easy to select a single focus point, - check the manual, very simple.

The amount of the flower/plant in front of the Bees Bum and behind the bees head that will also appear in focus, is simply called the depth of field. That link will each you that the smaller the aperture (larger the number, as aperture is a fraction, 1/aperture).

The unique issue that a close shot brings, is that ideally you need a macro lens to allow very close focusing, - youre is not a macro; and the closer you are to the subject, the aperture and depth if field rules remain the same, assuming you are focused on the bee. BUT you shutter speed must be VERY fast. Think of looking through binoculars, - the slightest movement is magnified to a blur. Thats macro.

So it looks to me as helpfully pointed out in the attached mod, that the camera, - youre friend,(?) focused in front of the Bee; and the Bee was moving, as they do.


So, f/8, shutter speed 1/2000, and ISO at around 1600. Sharp Bee and a bit of noise.



regards



Willie

Its a little bit like a two eyed robot guarding the field.


I like the two wheels, it makes it more surreal.


Ive loaded a mod with the white balance a little warmer, and the image sharpened, as its slightly soft.


Pablos crop idea can work also, and Ive also uploaded a mod with it done.


Regards



Willie

The pose is good, looks quite angry.


The image looks like a smaller crop from the original image,as there noise in the background I wouldnt expect to see at ISO 200.


The white are blown at the top of the head, but you can recover some detail in the head feathers by reducing the highlights.

A tiny catchlight works wonders in the eye, - just a 1 pixel white brush touched on in the right place.


I removed background noise in the mod, recovered some, but not all of the white feather detail, and the cachlight.

The Canon 100-400 lens has mixed reviews when at 400mm. There a general opinion that theres a wide range in quality between individual lenses, some excellent, some not great, but they are all consistently sharp at 300mm. Keep an eye open for this as you use it, as if you notice it soft 400mm shots, you may be able to exchange the lens if you want to.



Regards



Willie

Looks like a type of lady-slipper Orchid.


there are some areas where theres clear evidence of manipulation, and youd be best to crop tighter to exclude these; bottom right, top right, bottom middle.


Though I like the idea, I would suggest you dont use the dominant colour from the image as a stroke line. It might work a little brighter too, and Ive uploaded a mod with the crop, brighter, frame, flipped, and the flower middle, and that center petal sharpened.


Hope this is useful.



regards



Willie

Nice use of the frame George. Perhaps a little sharper?


When framing like this, its important to have the camera exactly parallel with the framing element. In this, as you can see, the camera was not parallel, being cloer on the right than the left, which made the bottom at an agle.

Not many would notice this though!


Ive uploaded a mod, sharpening, and horizontal alignment.


Whats the story about this statue? What is the child doing?




regards


Willie

A nice scene well exposed. Perhaps it can be very slightly brighter according to the histogram, but it works as it is. Youve achieved what you set out to do.



regards


Willie