March Pussywillow # 22

Please view large. Photo taken late in day with minimal post processing (except for

addition of frame). : ) Comments/critiques especially appreciated. Thanks.

Congratulations on your new camera, it looks like your not wasting any time putting it to work. I like both number 22 and 24, the light on the pussy willows has a strong feeling of Spring and in both images the contrast is perfect between the branches of your subject and the background. I like the way you have composed this, telling a more complete story by including the dark bare branched of Spring. Beautifully done!

Hi Jim-

 

Thanks for the critique and comments. The contrast in seasons was exactly what I was trying to capture. I shot this standing on my roof -not the sloping part - a flat roof of a very long porch. I think too much abaout that camera to recklessly endanger it already! : ) Fifteen years ago, I planted this little sprig nera the porch, and it grew into a monster pussywillow tree over two stories tall. The elevated porch roof venue gives me a ton of natural backdrops - moss, cloudy sky with barren trees used here, green bamboo, brown fencing, dark rust red siding,... great playground. So there I am on the roof holding the D700 in my right hand and holding the pussywillow branches in position with the other. I did use a tripod for a few shots. The flash lit the foreground; background was lit by the remains of daylight on an overcast afternoon.

Wonderful composition and capture. The background has an almost black and white appearance but there are those little hints of color to let us know that it is not B&W. Because the background is low key the main subject has presence. On my 70-300mm I find that f8 is a good choice re sharpness and still keeping the background still relatively undefined. I fond some parts of flower to be a little soft and it might well be my eyes. In any event I have done a selective sharpening (layer/vector mask) on some parts of the flowering bud for your scrutiny. Best regards,

... very good macro ... regards from Cyprus ...

PDE

Beautiful composition and choice of color for the background. I find Tony's version even better, with the slight sharpening. Thanks to both Sandra and Tony.

Hi Tony-

I think I see the sharpened area - it's hard because I have to toggle and can't see the images side by side to study them. I have no idea how to use vector masks.... I'll get there, but self teaching takes time, and if is isn't in Scott Kelby's book, it takes even more time - Adobe instructions can be pretty obscure... I thought some of the contrast/shadow problem might be that my monitor is 4 years old and probably needs recalibration.... I tried using the built-in tool - and let's just say it didn't work too well, so now I'm struggling with the terrible instructions with the Gretag Macbeth Eye-one Display 2 (had to go on-line to find out that I don't need to disable Adobe Gamma on a Mac before calibrating). Sooo - my photos are going to be coming a little more slowly until I get that figured out. I did learn I should set the native contrast to PC 2.2; Mac is much softer/lighter at 1.8, so my shaded areas may be a little off. I don't know if you checked the EXIF data for this pic . I was shooting macro with TTL flash at f/18 @ 200 handheld, ISO 400 with my 105 Sigma macro lens - plane to subject was at the minimum. At that distance even at f/18, dof was insanely narrow. I do really like the abstract background on this - it is totally unaltered. Thanks for all your suggestions. I really do appreciate them

lovely shot....nice DOF and detail in the 'pussies'....

Gail! (*_*)