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Here’s my original shot with cropped composition. I’m never too sure about when’s enough vs too much. Does this crop work? I like the interest of weird and colorful things on the left to add interest but didn’t want so much horizontal to distract from the yellow bloom. Also I don’t have a macro lens. Do I need one for this type of closeup shot? Here’s my exif: Canon 90D – f/8, 1/400, ISO-800, -1 step, 250mm. Any thoughts? Thanks
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I do like the crop. It reduces the black blotches in the background (no longer go from green to black back to green). It make the small background green lower right of the bottom bloom appear almost as a framing object. I don’t think you needed all of the stems on the left. What you have left is quite nice, almost suggesting hair beads some wear these days.
The at large size on my display, the blooms seem a bit soft focused and the image seems to have a lot of digital noise. The soft focus could be intentional. It could be the result of slight camera shake or it could be increasing the size of the resulting image post-crop. When I’m taking the time I should, I get out my tripod for these sorts of images. Sadly, I don’t do that often enough. Sure. I can hand hold at this shutter speed. NOT.
I don’t own a macro lens. I did purchase a set of extension tubes. Much less expensive than a dedicated lens and work well to get close-ups. When I use one, I really really need to use a tripod.
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Great feedback @lightandshadow, thank you. I’m not able to physically haul a tripod when I’m shooting in nature, my back will simply not have it lol. I have a set of extension tubes but haven’t used them in a while. They didn’t seem to work and play well with my camera so they ended up not being worth the bother. Is there a way I can learn to test for or recognize digital noise? Or a better question might be how do I minimize it if needed?
One other bit of info if it matters, I shot this in early morning misty light.
Additional note: I nosed around my PS Elements and found a filter to reduce noise. I’ll play with it to understand how it works. Thanks for pointing me to new learning!
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I have had trouble with my extension tubes. Focus with them is very very fiddly and they can demand you get extremely close to your subject. I’ve had best luck with the 12x one–and it’s mostly luck with me.
Today’s cameras do a remarkably good job with digital noise. One key is to get a good exposure to begin with. If you have to lighten your image in post, it exposes the noise that’s already there. Software has also done wonders to address this issue. My grandson’s basketball pictures and some of my backyard bird ones are shot at ISO 12800. It worked out that way on Auto ISO. I needed it that high so that shutter speeds of 1/1000 second could expose correctly. Lightroom, especially using its brand new Denoise function, virtually eliminated visible noise from my pictures. Not sure how far behind Adobe might be in incorporating Lightroom or Photoshop features into Elements but I’m sure it isn’t very far behind.
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if you can’t carry the full tripod, look up the platypod or the decade tripod plate. (edit: apparently the decade is no longer available)
i carry the decade on my backpack. great for toy photography on the ground, great to prop on fences, ledges or rocks, even strap it to a tree if you need to. you do need to buy a tripod head. i’ve used it with all of the my equipment except for heaviest item – the sony and 200-600mm. i think it would handle the weight fine, i just can’t see a logical use for this in wildlife photography.
as for cropping, try to get as much right in camera as you possibly can. a macro lens is great, extension tubes are a cheaper alternative. or a combo of the two.
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*Try to get as much right in camera as you possibly can , This advice from Beth is about the best way of going about not having to crop or if you do it will only be a small crop , cropping will make any noise in the image more noticeable as well.
Lovely 2nd shot Marty 🙂
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Thanks again to all for your great support and feedback! 🙂 I’ve now picked up some new skills with your suggestions on software and ideas on denoising. I used Dfine 2 from Patrick’s link to apply Fine Structure/ Strong Noise, and then selected Dfine 2’s Paint that sent me to use my Elements Brush to smooth out most of chunky areas. Here’s my first attempt at smoothing things out. I’m really excited about learning this new technique. A lot of my floral and nature shooting is done at my local arboretum where I can’t get any closer to my subjects (tromping through the flower beds is a no-no). So long story, short. Cropping is a way of life in most outdoor situations. I’ll definitely look into Beth’s platypod suggestion!
@lightsandshadow @loki @patrickw-2
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One more from same shoot. I applied denoise techniques to the background, any other suggestions? Below is the original I cropped from.
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I really like this. So different from the usual blooms images.
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Thanks so much for your thoughts @lightandshadow! Much appreciated, I’m trying to figure out unique ways to do flora 🙂
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I’m with you i really like what i see , smashing work Marty
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Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm, I was going for impact 🙂
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About cropping-the first image: I’d try the square crop…
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Thanks for your suggestion @valeryp. Here’s a square crop, what do you think?
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Thanks @loki and @patrickw-2 for your reminder to get it as right as you can in camera. I took my tripod for another early shoot today only to be told it was not allowed until after 3 pm! Due to excessive foot traffic for Dallas Blooms I imagine. Anyway, I found some up close shots in spite of the wind, here’s one of my favorite Texas natives called Texas Mountain Laurel. The blooms today were the most abundant I’ve ever seen. Right place, right time matters so I’m glad I tried again.
I only did a slight crop for this one going from 1:1 to 8×10 with minimal edits. Handheld.
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shoot in the largest aspect that covers your sensor and crop to your preferred aspect in post. if you shoot in 1:1, the camera is cropping down your usable sensor area, and when you crop to another aspect in post, you lose even more pixels.
in the image below the blue rectangle is your 90d sensor (22.3 : 14.9 or simplified to 3:2). the red is the useable sensor area when shooting in a 1:1 aspect ratio. the yellow on both the left and right sensor graphics is how much of your sensor is used once you’ve cropped down to 8×10″.
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Wow, Beth, thanks! I had no idea about the technical details of my sensor – I’ll shoot 3:2 from now on and go from there, your images are pictures worth a thousand words! 🙂
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Like the rest of your images, I like this as well Marty.
If you’re going for ‘reality’ this is the shot. If you’re trying artistic, I might be tempted to rotate it 90 counter clockwise to see how my eyes like the image.
As well, I would try an inverted image (flipped 180 vertically) and see how it looks… also try flipping this 180 horizontally as well.
Just experiment with the view points.
You might find one of these views you like as well.
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Hi Paul, I tried out your suggestion to try different viewpoints with a new layered flora shot I’ve been working on for artistic effect. I’ve been fiddling around with 6:4 and 8×10 crops, but I rather like how this vertical turned out. Thanks for the assist! 🙂 @paul-3
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- https://www.instagram.com/robert.apple.98/
- https://photography667a.myportfolio.com/
- Allows Edits: Yes
Allows Edits? YesThese things are awesome , and if you add a quick attach mount to the top you have a instant light weight monopod walking stick
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Another take on leatherleaf mahonia berries from my previous shoot up top of this post. Here’s the original and cropped 5×7. Any thoughts on cropping, and does it need any color or other adjustments?
Also, another question on color and white balance. My exif shows I used Auto White Balance, but I think I manually adjusted white balance a couple of notches toward blue that day since shots were too yellow for my taste. First time I’ve tried that. Any pointers for future outings?
Original
Cropped:
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i would have taken a shot slightly wider than the cropped version in camera. your dof would have been different due to the change in distance or focal length. i don’t bother with wb in camera, i shoot raw and adjust later on the computer. overall, it looks a tad dark, open it up about a stop.
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Good to know, thanks Beth! I’ve been avoiding shooting in RAW due to file size but I can see it would give me more flexibility in post-processing. I’ll see what I can do next time. Also, a question. I usually shoot under-exposed to help me reduce handshake. Would using an ND filter help me with exposure? I have one in my bag but have never worked with it re: exposure and handshake.
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shoot raw. it’ll open up a whole new world for you. you do need a raw editor, like lightroom, so if you don’t have one, don’t just jump to shooting raw. shoot jpg + raw so you have your jpg images now and raw for when you’re ready.
underexposing won’t necessarily help you reduce camera shake. it all comes down to the exposure triangle. the only thing that will eliminate handheld camera shake is by making sure your shutter speed is greater than 1/focal length. or use a tripod. by luck, the camera might adjust your shutter speed over the focal length threshold, but it’s not a guarantee.
example: you’re shooting 100mm on auto at 1/30sec, f/8, iso 400. you tell the camera to underexpose by 1 stop. the camera can adjust f/8 to f/16, or iso 400 to iso 800, or 1/30 sec to 1/60 sec to achieve that 1 stop change. and you’d still have camera shake. you’d need a shutter speed greater than 1/100 sec to get rid of the camera shake. if you started with 1/60 sec and the camera happens to adjust to 1/120 sec, then you’ve lucked out and you’ll probably not have camera shake unless you’re excessively shaky. auto modes like aperture priority are great to use, but i’d also suggest learning full manual so you know if your camera is picking the right settings for you and what to do if it isn’t.
using an nd filter won’t help. that reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor. think of it as a pair of sunglasses for your camera. it does the same as the scenario above. the camera will compensate by making your iso higher (more noise), your aperture bigger (less dof) or your shutter speed longer (more camera shake). you use an nd filter on waterfalls to get milky water or to make slow moving items (like clouds) look like they’re moving quickly.
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Hi Beth, thanks so much for your eye-opening, next level feedback and suggestions for improvement re: focal length, the exposure triangle, and raw vs jpg! The flash bulb has (finally) gone off in my brain to shift my priorities and process to create new habits for approaching my shots starting with focal length.
I also appreciate your response to my nd filter question. There’s a waterfall nearby I can practice on. Your “pair of sunglasses for your camera” description is so helpful. You are such a great teacher for detail and perspective for camera craft. Many thanks, I’m in your debt.
One more thing to add for all Shark Tank experts who generously offer their honest and helpful feedback like Beth who make Shark Tank such a great learning experience! I smile that I’m reminded that “the only dumb question is the one you didn’t ask.” I love it that I can be fearless in asking any and all questions on Shark Tank that will be taken seriously. Inquiring minds want to know lol 😀 @loki
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check this online camera simulator out:
https://www.camerasim.com/original-camerasim
it used to be simpler, no options for focal length, amount of light or distance. but it’ll help you see camera shake in real time and how you can adjust settings to reduce it.
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I might sound a bit daft, but try turning some of them upside down. Not so much the ones that have an obvious hang. Just to have a different perspective. Sometime it is surprising how different the image looks.
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