Salamander macro

[FlyingSquirrel]

Salamander macro shot. Am hoping to get C&C primarily on my PP techniques, as that's what I'm trying to improve on... exposure, contrast, sharpening, colors, etc. In this case, I'm not particularly interested in composition comments, unless you really would like to comment on that. Of course I couldn't really do much with the position of the animal or get rid of the dirt particles, (although it would be nice if it was cleaner) but it still looks ok to me since it's just natural.

I added a blur vignette and subtle exposure vignette. The "end" half of the salamander was actually already blurred due to shallow DOF, but the leaf edges I blurred manually. Does it look good/not distracting?

Thanks!


Ensatina sp. salamander

[conkerwood]

The dirt, angle and composition all look good to me they are natural and they feel natural. But the blurring of the leaf at the front right doesn't feel right. The blur starts quite abruptly and the fact that it occurs across a diagonal line creates an optical illusion that the edge of the leaf is folded along the line and pointing downwards which i presume was not your intention. For comparison I would actually liked to have seen the pic before the blurring. But that being said its a pretty nice shot and he/she is very cute.

Peter

[terrib]

I just want to say that I love the shot. I'm still learning PP, but the exposure, contrast, sharpening and colors look good to me. I'm not sure about the vignette. I agree with Peter on the lower right. I'm really wondering if a vignette is even helpful in this instance since the background is pretty simple. It seems like the DOF from your shot would do enough to focus attention to the head without further help.

[Stagecoach]

HI Matt, As both Terri and Peter have mentioned I too am not sure about the vignette on this image and I would really like to judge the improvement against the image without it added.

Otherwise your PP looks great to me and glad you have not oversharpened which is such a temptation. Grahame.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Thanks to all for your valuable feedback. I agree with you about the leaf corner and will be happy to prepare a version without the blur and vignette. The bottom right corner actually had the edge of the leaf visible with the dark dirt in the corner underneath, so under the blur I roughly smudged the leaf over to conceal the blank spot. Without a blur, I will have to clone the corner in, as cropping is not an option. I'll get another version up for you as soon as I can, but it might be a few days. Thanks again

[shreds]

The lack of part of the hind legs leave me thinking the little creature's rear end has been squashed!? Maybe going in on a crop of the head would work better?

[FlyingSquirrel]

Here is the version without vignette or added blur. It turns out there was already more edge blur due to DOF than I recall. Unfortunately that bottom right corner is out of focus and still meets that diagonal, though it's not as pronounced as it was in my first version. I could possibly replace the brown area there with yellow to make it less distracting but I'm not sure if that would help (and I'm not sure how realistic I could make it look).

Per Ian's suggestion I tried some other crops, tighter in on the head, etc. I didn't really like the way they looked though.

Well, have at it and let me know what you guys think compared to the first version posted above. Thank you!

[Bobobird]

Lovely capture - colours, sharpess, angle, background etc. All good.

I would cut in about an inch from the left to reduce the sharp drop off between sharp and blur. However looks fine as-is in the original.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Mat,

I certainly prefer the second image as it looks more natural. If it was mine I would not worry at all about that bottom right corner, the subject is the salamander and you have got the critical parts sharp and they grab the attention.

Well done.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Thank you Bobo and Grahame. Your feedback and kind words are appreciated. I think I do prefer the second image as well