Syrphe

thank you for leaving your comments on my images. It's always nice to find out what others think. I just finished going through your portfolio and I find you have quite a few really nice images. In particular I like your macros.

I see one thing that all of them seem to have in common, lack of post processing. I think that your images could all benefit greatly from some post processing. There's a lot involved in doing it well, I'm still learning new things regularly and have been at it for a few years. Do you have a image editing program already? If you don't, there are quite a few forum discussions on the topic of which one would be right for you.

I attached an edited version of this image to show you what 5 min of editing can do. With a full resolution image and more time the results would be much better.

Hi Siegfried,

Thank you for the advice.

What post processing was done to achieve this ?

I'll also read tips on the forum.

Best regards

OK, I'll attempt to give a rough outline of what I did.

First I created a duplicate layer which tends to be how I always start. I do this because it's easy to get carried away with adjustments to the sharpness and contrast  and before you know it your image ends up looking "over cooked". With the duplicate layer once your done with all your adjustments you can adjust how see-though your edited layer is to blend it with the original, I find it a good way of dialing back an image to look more natural.

Next I selected the top layer and applied an unsharp mask filter to it. Even though the filter is called unsharp mask it's a method of sharpening. Adjusting the radius and the amount to the lowest settings that show the desired effect. The smaller the radius the finer the detail that you end up sharpening, to a point.

After that I did some level adjustments to improve color and contrast. I make adjustments to the sliders gradually, trying to move in the direction I want.

Then I selectively blurred the background because it had gotten grainy looking from the post processing.

And finally I blended it with the original a bit to make the adjustments look a little less harsh, like I mentioned in the first paragraph.

Hope this helps. At first it can be frustrating and time consuming, but with practice it gets easier to get good results. Just remember, keep a copy of the original archived and don't touch it with your editor. This way you will avoid messing it up accidentally. I've found that I can go back now to images I edited years ago, and re-edit them for much better results because I've gotten much better at it. So remember keep your originals archived.

Good Luck!

Thank you Siegfried for these explanations,

It's really honest and generous from you to share your know-how, and it may be really useful to save missed shots.

I keep this in a corner of my mind.

Regards