One photo different edits

This week has been busy and hot so I have been out to take photos mainly in the morning, before I have even had coffee. I decided look at what different forms of editing can do for a photo.

I took this wildflower this week at Lowe Park here in Marion. It is a pink cone flower that is fairly common. The setting for this photo was iso200, f/5.6, 1/100sec

This was the basic image.

I wasn't happy with this photo because the background had too many highlights.

I decided to try Gray scaling the background.

I still wasn't happy with this the background was still too distracting because of the highlights.

I had suggested to me try darkening the background.

This was better but I felt there was too much background so I cropped the photo.

This version of the flower I think is the best I can get this image. I also upped the color saturation a little bit as well. In this version the flower attracts your attention while the background is not totally nothing it does not distract.

How can I improve this photo. There is not much I can do to make this a really good photo but I did learn several things. I will make sure I have a cup of coffee before I head out so I will be a bit more awake.  I definitely will pay more attention to what the leaves in the background are doing in the light. I will set me camera to slightly underexpose the flower so I can do more in editing the photo. I probably would choose I more perfect flower.

Macro photography

Macro photography is very close up photography often getting details and images that are not possible any other way. This is a type of photography that intrigues me and I am trying to learn to do better. I love working with macro and while I am not that great at it I am getting better with it as I learn how to see the images and work with the lens.

My macro lens was the lens I bought as soon as I could afford it after buying my camera. I have the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I would have loved to have bought the 100mm f/2.8L but that was not in the budget and I was told by several photographers who do wonderful macro work that the lens I bought was terrific. I have to agree that it is a very sharp lens.

Here is an early attempt with the macro lens. Chocolate Covered Cherry, the setting were iso 800, f/4.0, 1/12sec

 While I like the photo I can see how I could have improved it. My iso was was too high, my f stop way too low, I should have positioned my lighting better and a slightly different angle would have made it more interesting.

As I have played with the macro lens outside as well as inside. Here is a dandelion puff that I took in my yard. The settings for this photograph were iso200, f/11, 1/40sec

In this photograph I like how you can sense the silkiness of the dandelion puff while seeing the detail of the puff, but the problem with this is the background. I should have been in a different angle. The green/white line is very distracting. While I would have loved to try again shooting the dandelion puff I was not able to because we did not have more in our yard or many of the normal places this year because of the weather.

I played with the very close up as well. This is a circuit board that we had lying around the house. The settings for this photo was iso200, f/5.6, 1/32sec

This photo does show an improvement in my ability to handle the lens and is better that the others there are still a couple of things I would change. I would use a more indirect but even lighting maybe even a back lighting at the same time. I think that this would bring out the colors of capacitors. I love the intricacy of circuit boards. They are often tiny works of art but there is something about this photo that is sterile and a bit boring to me.


This last one is a rose that was part of a bouquet that my husband gave me. The setting for this photo are iso200, f/11, 1/6sec

One of my recent ones was an experimental one because I was playing with my reflector and using a desk lamp for the light source. I am please with the depth of field, the color, the shadows and the background. To allow me to control the camera and lighting easier I used my cable release for my shutter. On this photo I sprayed the rose to create more texture but I think I went a bit overboard with the spray. I do think I need more practice.

I decided to try again with the rose, a couple of days later, only this time be a bit further away and use only one drop of water. The setting for this rose are iso200, f/11, 1.0sec

I like the drop falling off but think that even thought I also was trying to diffuse the lighting a bit the shadows are a bit harsh but I still like this photo.


As you can see there is a definite improvement with each photo but there is still lots of room of improvement and experimentation in my adventures in Macro photography.

Trying Fireworks

Recently we went to a Minor League Baseball game, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and after the game they had fireworks. They have fireworks after games through out the season so I can go back and try fireworks again and again.

I took pictures of the games and fireworks but want to share the firework photographs. I was hand holding the camera for all of these shots. I will talk about how I could improve them after the photos.

Fireworks one. iso 800, f/3.5, 1/20sec

Fireworks two. iso 800, f/3.5 1/20sec

Fireworks three, iso 800, f/3.5, 1/10sec

All of these photos have the same problems.

1- I had my shutter speed too slow. I should have had it at 2-4 sec which means that I would have needed a tripod of someplace to set my camera.
2- too low of f stop. A higher f stop would have helped because I would not over expose the image with a slower shutter speed.
3- lower iso. This would have allowed for longer shutter, lower noise and better quality image.

If I had done these I would have had more colors and longer tails which would be more interesting to look at and come closer to what we see with our eyes.

In images one and two more in the foreground would have helped make a more interesting by giving more dimension to the images, where as image 3 had things in the background that added interest.

I will try again with fireworks and share my results. While I did not photograph the firework well I did learn what I did wrong so I can improve next time.