Number Three of a Set

The last, (for now) manipulation of a slab of rock. All three images in this set were captured with an iPhone 12 Pro Max and were fiddled with in Photoshop.

Painting Rocks

Another slab of rock with muted color that lent itself to being enhanced in Photoshop and then became something more.

Decisions

This image was captured on my Nikon FM film camera.  I photographed the negative with my full frame DSLR and imported into Adobe Lightroom for initial editing, then into Photoshop for inverting.  The image on the left is pre-invert, the right, post invert.  I am having a hard time deciding which I like better.  The reflections on the negative version seem to pop more but, the detail of the docks stand out more on the inverted version.  Your thoughts…

What Can Be Saved?

It often happens that an idea does not become what one wishes.  The execution in the moment seemed like it would work. But the realization when editing is that not much can be recovered from the available information.  So, what to do?  I’m not one to just give up and walk away.  I will take  time and play with sliders and curves to see what I might create from the data.  The October Road yields an interesting possibility.

Painterly Pastels

A little flick of the camera, some fun in Photoshop using the oil paint filter and autumn takes on a slightly different look along the October road.

More From the Storm

An interpretation of a bracketed shot processed through Lightroom and HDR Efex Pro 2 in Photoshop.

Simple Pleasures #2

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Shot indoors, a multi-image stack converted in Silver Efex Pro 2.  My learning process continues with macro photography and image stacking.  I’ve learned that to edit in Camera Raw and/or Lightroom before  I export as JPEGS before I import into … Continue reading →

Focus Stacking

As time permits, I am continuing to learn more about focus stacking.  Since spring is doing it’s best to finally make an appearance in northern Minnesota, the garden is doing it’s best to respond.  A few small flowers have sprung up and it seemed a good opportunity to try capturing two small clumps of blooms.

The first group is a stack of 22 images, the second was 19.  If you look closely on the first, you will notice the tip of one leaf in the foreground where I missed focus.  I missed several on the second.  I’m excited by the possibilities of using focus stacking and look forward to applying it in other ways.

My set-up: Canon DSLR, Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro, ASUS Android tablet running DSLR Controller (works with most Canon DSLRs).  I export images from Lightroom as Photoshop layers, then use the Auto-Align if needed and Auto-Blend for combining the stack.  There are many videos on You-Tube that describe the technique.

Joys in the Attic

Due to having injured my back pushing my car out of a frozen divot, I have not been out shooting much lately.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t find something to do, which includes checking my attic windows for frost patterns.  Every year the patterns are a bit different and I enjoy exploring, capturing and tweaking the best of them.
My back is finally improving and soon I expect to be outdoors searching for new winter compositions.

Canon 5DS, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, ISO 50, 100mm, f/3.5, 1/80 sec.  Processed through Adobe Lightroom and Siver Efex Pro 2.  Watermark created in and added via Photoshop.

Revisiting Last October

Last October I captured an image of a row of birch trees that I really liked, but when I got home and viewed the image on my computer, I noticed a wire running through the image.  The updated Adobe Photoshop 2019 has an improved “Content Aware Fill” feature that seems to work much better than past versions and I gave it a try on the image.  I came away pleasantly surprised by the end result.  Is it absolutely perfect? No, but it’s pretty darn good and I would be willing to print the result.  My plan is to print it on canvas which should aid in softening any residual effects of the process.

Canon 5D Mk ll, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM, ISO 50, 70mm, f/16, 1/30 sec.