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Post by georgem on Oct 29, 2011 22:16:30 GMT
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Post by katynoelle on Oct 29, 2011 22:26:07 GMT
Woah! Wow!
Is that a praying mantis? I've never seen the face so clear - nor the eyes, for that matter. Fascinating and beautiful - the eyes are just beautiful!
It was staying very still for you?
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Post by georgem on Oct 29, 2011 22:47:11 GMT
Katy - Yes, it's a praying mantis and it was just sitting there. They're pretty fearless creatures. It actually turned its head to look at me as I was setting up.
I set the D90 for a 3-exposure bracket of 2 stops. The lens, a Minolta Rokkor MD is one I bought back in '79 for use with my Minolta SRT-202. You have to manually focus and set the aperture, of course.
I combined the 3 shots using Paint Shop Pro X2, and finished it in PSE8 (whew...)
I've been thinking about the Tamron 90mm Macro, but this lens seems to give acceptable results.
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Post by jiro on Oct 29, 2011 22:47:58 GMT
You're making my neck hurt! ;D I think this is where a slight vignette would help you shot look "better", George.  |
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Post by georgem on Oct 29, 2011 22:54:28 GMT
Don't know how to do that, jiro. My PP skillz are quite limited.
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Post by jiro on Oct 29, 2011 22:56:07 GMT
Don't know how to do that, jiro. My PP skillz are quite limited. What editing software do you use? |
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Post by georgem on Oct 29, 2011 23:01:48 GMT
PSE8, mainly.
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Post by jiro on Oct 29, 2011 23:23:34 GMT
OK, George. I think PSE8 does not have layering capability. Question: "What can the brush inside PSE8 do?" Can it darken a portion of the image using the brush?
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Post by georgem on Oct 29, 2011 23:31:17 GMT
OK, George. I think PSE8 does not have layering capability. Question: "What can the brush inside PSE8 do?" Can it darken a portion of the image using the brush? PSE8 does have layers. I've been following a procedure for each photo: 1st layer: capture sharpening (as suggested by ChrisC) of 300%, 0.3 pixels 2nd layer: levels adjustment using method learned at school. 3rd layer: shadows/highlights using method learned at school. 4th layer: Topaz Denoise 5 |
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Post by jiro on Oct 29, 2011 23:34:52 GMT
Awesome! Does it have masking capability, too?
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Post by georgem on Oct 29, 2011 23:58:16 GMT
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Post by jiro on Oct 30, 2011 0:07:39 GMT
A simple way to add a vignette, George is to: 1. place a blank layer on top of the background layer. 2. Use a large brush with a very soft edge and set the foreground color to an initial value of say... 15% gray. Use this brush on the blank layer and paint the outer periphery except the area that you want to retain the original brightness. 3. Set the blending mode of this layer from normal to MULTIPLY. Adjust the opacity of this layer to your liking. If it is still a bit light, darken or increase the intensity of the foreground color to a more darker or grayer color. Hope this helps, George. Something like this if you may:  |
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Post by georgem on Oct 30, 2011 0:14:01 GMT
A simple way to add a vignette, George is to: 1. place a blank layer on top of the background layer. 2. Use a large brush with a very soft edge and set the foreground color to an initial value of say... 15% gray. Use this brush on the blank layer and paint the outer periphery except the area that you want to retain the original brightness. 3. Set the blending mode of this layer from normal to MULTIPLY. Adjust the opacity of this layer to your liking. If it is still a bit light, darken or increase the intensity of the foreground color to a more darker or grayer color. Hope this helps, George. Something like this if you may: Thank you so much, jiro! That is a vast improvement! |
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Post by rasbury on Oct 30, 2011 1:04:16 GMT
What an image.That is a fantastic image of a praying mantis George.I could look at that image for a long time and never loose interest.
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Post by georgem on Oct 30, 2011 1:57:49 GMT
What an image.That is a fantastic image of a praying mantis George.I could look at that image for a long time and never loose interest. Thank you, Ron. That really made me smile. |
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