Posted by Mearle Gates on July 29, 2007 at 1:32 PM
Thursday morning I was out in the backyard and saw we had dewdrops all over the grape leaves. I grabbed my 5D, a 100mm macro, and a tripod and ran off about a dozen shots. Only a couple were sharp enough to work with due to a slight breeze.
Anyway, the raw file was processed in Digital Photo Professional to give 3 exposures. The three files were then layered in PhotoShop and the best color from each layer was painted in through a mask. Some LAB color enhancement was added, a bit of cropping, and here is the result.
This is really nice, mearle. I like the how leaf edges point towards each of the corners. And also the variation in light from the leaf to the background really makes the primary subject pop.
Different and very interesting photo. I like the replication of the shape of the leaf, background and framing. Nice job capturing this.
Posted by Mike Stovall on July 29, 2007 at 11:04 PM
Mearle, there is really interesting patterns in the leaf. You have excellent tone separation in this composition. Your processing intrigues me as I'd never heard of this method before. How did the three exposures from DPP differ? Did you use a different color balance or exposure level for each? The range of greens in the leaf itself is amazing.
Posted by Mike Dawson on July 30, 2007 at 12:01 AM
Posted by Mearle Gates on July 30, 2007 at 1:10 AM
Thanks guys! As it was shot with entirely natural light, the background was quite bright in direct sun, while the leaf was somewhat shadowed. I exposed to just preserve the highlight tones leaving the remainder somewhat dark. So in DPP all I did was adjust the exposure to 3 different levels according to what I needed. Then I saved the three files out as 16 bit tiff files and did all the work in PhotoShop in 16 bit mode to minimize loss of tonal range. I actually felt I had too much shadow detail so my final step was to severely clip the shadow levels to add more contrast at that end of the histogram. That added a lot of dimension to the leaf surface texture.
It's nice as is, but I keep wondering if I shouldn't replicate one dew drop to add to the central leaf tip. My only concern about that is that it might look _too_ perfect.
Mearle
Posted by Ned Fenimore on July 30, 2007 at 1:12 AM
Stunning! I love it!!
Posted by Tom Kloster on July 30, 2007 at 10:21 AM
Beautiful, Merle - really an amazing image! I like that you've broken the rules with a bright, intense backdrop and dark foreground so effectively. It really works - and no, I wouldn't clone in another dew drop. I think it works just fine the way it is, and in a way, bringing more attention to that tip might harm the flow of your eye working up through the droplets on the right edge of the leaf. Great composition on this!
Mearle, this is really amazing. Your work crafting this image really paid big dividends! Love the splashes of yellow that frame up the leaf and pop it right out. The dew drops are just crystal, like little jewels. And the leaf, as others have said is wondrous with detail. Wow!
Thanks a bunch for sharing the technique!
(And I, for one, don't think you should add the droplet to the center leaf. It's more interesting this way.)
Discussion
9 repliesAnyway, the raw file was processed in Digital Photo Professional to give 3 exposures. The three files were then layered in PhotoShop and the best color from each layer was painted in through a mask. Some LAB color enhancement was added, a bit of cropping, and here is the result.
Mearle
Sandy r
It's nice as is, but I keep wondering if I shouldn't replicate one dew drop to add to the central leaf tip. My only concern about that is that it might look _too_ perfect.
Mearle
Tom
Thanks a bunch for sharing the technique!
(And I, for one, don't think you should add the droplet to the center leaf. It's more interesting this way.)