ISO 200
Apature 5.6
f6.4
Exposure 1/70
White balance Manual
Flash not used
Information from Picasa 3
Last edited by cliveanne; 16th March 2012 at 12:51 AM.
Peter. I would say that your basic shot has promise but there are a number of points which I would do differently.
The flower and rather close background are very similar so that may cause some problems. The flower is somewhat dark. It looks as though it was in a bit of shade, although that can be an advantage, and the camera has probably exposed for the lighter background; which has added to the dark petals.
So starting with this photo, I would lighten the overall brightness, but be careful not to end up with an excessively over exposed background or the brighter areas of petals. In reality, I may work with a mask to selectively apply the brightness.
There are several elements in the background which I would wish to alter. There is a small piece of another stem in the top right corner which adds nothing but distraction so I would remove it.
The stem on the left is out of focus and too dominant so I would change that by cropping closer to the flower. And on the bottom, I would remove the wire.
I think all of these elements could be improved simply by a closer crop, or maybe a mixture of crop and clone. This may need cropping to a different width/height ratio; but you could possibly end up retaining the present ratio. I think it is a case of try it and see how things work.
Overall though, I think this shot is good enough to justify the extra effort to get it just right.
Geoff F, WOW. Thanks for that, it is just what I needed.
Having looked again at the picture, I see what you mean. I was so pleased with the flower & did not "see" the distractions.
The flower was in the shade...Me, I was in an Orangery with the sun at my back behind some trees, taken around 16:30. Focusing was difficult as I had to almost stand on one leg & lean into the subject. (Perhaps I should have zoomed in instead).
Regarding your comment on using a mask. I am in the very early stages of working with layers, I have had Elements10 now for a few weeks, & it is quite a steep learning curve, so this is something I will be addressing quite soon. I can crop, do a basic lighten/darken, clone, alter backgrounds with a second layer plus a few other basic jobs.
Getting the image right the first time into the camera would have been better , but, it is not always as easy as it looks.
Once again, thank you for your constructive criticism, it is appreciated & welcomed.
PS. Should I save images I am working on as a TIFF file? My camera Finepix 2800HD does not do RAW
Last edited by cliveanne; 17th March 2012 at 08:26 AM. Reason: Another thougt
If you are doing experimental editing on a photo, I would definitely save the original, unaltered, as a Tiff. You can then keep returning to the original, which won't suffer any quality loss, and keep trying new things as your editing skills improve.
Ah, "Save as" from jpeg first. (Why did I not think about that ) I have the original tucked away safe & sound. New folder to be created "Editing,TIFF only".
Thank you.
P.