Falling Stars

Gallery: FloraPosted July 15, 20132,255 views15 comments

I found these Shooting Stars last week at Red Rock Lake here in Colorado.

This is another attempt at a stack. This was 4 images at 5.6. The widest aperture on my 28-135 w/Macro. Still not perfect, but this is just another learning curve to be had in photography. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

5d, 28-135mm, tripod, remote shutter release

Thanks for looking,

Morris

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by May Haga on July 15, 2013 at 4:13 PM

This is very lovely Morris. I have these in my garden and every spring I try to make a pleasing image but am never successful. I would be very happy if I achieved something close to this.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Buck on July 15, 2013 at 6:21 PM

This is very nice Morris. I like how the stack allowed you to get all of the flowers fairly sharp. Nice colors and a nice comp. To me, the stack looks good.

Nathan

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1101 Posts, 13589 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on July 15, 2013 at 7:07 PM

Morris - If I had not read your comment "still not perfect" and looked for imperfections, I doubt I would have spotted a few stacking imperfections.

That says a lot really. Its pretty well done in my opinion. The leaves in the background have the right amount of focus not to be distracting. The 3 blooms and 2 buds make for a great composition as well.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on July 15, 2013 at 7:38 PM

Well done, Morris. I like the color of the almost glowing Stars. Nice jog managing the DOF via the stack.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 15, 2013 at 8:14 PM

Morris—first, this is an exceptional floral image—color, arrangement and BG are perfect. I don't know what program you are using for stacking, but I can see some familiar "friends" in the way of focusing artifacts. I use Zerene Stacker almost exclusively now (Helicon's subscription fee was a bit much, as there has been no upgrade to justify it, so I dropped it). Error correction is quite good usually in Zerene, involving cloning clear selections where artifacts are observed from one or more of the individual images.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Smith on July 15, 2013 at 9:00 PM

Nice! Lovely colors...form and dof. No nits.

Registered on September 5, 2008, 449 Posts, 2444 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on July 15, 2013 at 10:09 PM

Being a novice to stacking, I do not have any suggestions on the techs, Morris. I might move slightly to the left so the stem is not obscured by the main flower. Looks great otherwise.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on July 16, 2013 at 12:36 AM

Thanks, everyone.

Phil, I'm just using CS6 and it's stacking merge. If I get some funds, I might have to try Zerene.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on July 16, 2013 at 6:38 AM

What a lovely look at one of my favorite wildflowers. You've got such a nice glow in the flowers against a great background. The stack looks good, but NPN sizes easily hide a lot of the common stack artifacts. If you want to have an off line discussion of stacking, send me an email. You can see a bit of my experience on PS stacking in my comments to Govind.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on July 16, 2013 at 6:53 AM

Simply first rate, Morris ! The lighting and the composition are both a bit special - the flowers just glow against the bg.

Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 16, 2013 at 10:12 PM

Hi Morris

Give us a chance

your work was exceptional without stacks, now you will be unbeatable

a great first stack,!! with excelent color and detail. love it

Albert Darmo
Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on July 17, 2013 at 5:14 AM

This looks fantastic to me, Morris! Love the color and comp. And I'm really crazy about these flowers. I'd love to be able to get something this good with them. This is a "WOW" to me!

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by Carolyn Derstine on July 17, 2013 at 8:49 PM

Love these flowers and you have created a first-rate image of them, Morris! Beautiful colors, processing, comp, and lighting. I still have yet to try focus stacking but it looks like you are off to a great start.

Registered on February 16, 2011, 610 Posts, 3684 Comments

Comment posted by Angela Classen on July 20, 2013 at 7:29 PM

No suggestions. Gorgeous image!

Registered on June 13, 2007, 434 Posts, 2742 Comments

Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on July 28, 2013 at 8:07 AM

It looks perfect to me...stunning! I love how you handled the background...nice to see the hint of fern!

Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments