I was out yesterday after a morning rain playing around in my wife's flower garden. My main goal was just to practice some abstract composition which is an area I feel I need a lot of work in.
I was using my Canon PowerShot G12 set in AV and Macro mode. f4.5 @ 1/250
I did adjust contrast, exposure and sharpness in Lightroom and added just a touch of vibrance.
Appreciate any feedback on cropping and fill lighting.
This is great Christopher! You captured the drops very well and you have a very good depth of field. The reflections in the large center drop are a bit hot but I don't think it detracts much. Nice work!
Steve,
Do you think I should have used some other form of fill light such as reflector screen or off set fill flash? Without dodging/burning in the large drop, I tried to find a balance on exposure control and contrast for rest of drops. I wanted to preserve purity of image as much as I could so I did not pull out all the other editing tricks. Thanks for the advice. Tomorrow I will submit an image of a Columbine taken at the same time. I would like advice on cropping for effect please.
That's not an easy question for me to answer. The fill light on the leaves looks just right to me. A polarizer might have tamed the reflections enough but I can't tell what is being reflected. Did you use an on-camera flash? If so, a diffuser probably would have helped. Or an off-camera flash with a diffuser.
As for cropping, I wouldn't do much. The drops make nice leading lines and pull the eye into the center and I wouldn't want to diminish that effect. You might try cropping a small amount from the top, just enough to remove the orange spot in the top left corner, and a more from the left side. That moves the plant center a bit to the upper left. I would experiment with it a bit and see what you like best. For me, I prefer having the focal point (the big drop in the plant center) off-centered.
Thanks Steve. No flash was used. The small black dot reflected in the drops is most likely the camera. I need to invest in a true macro lens for my Canon 5D MII. Do you think the 100mm f2.8 IS USM Macro is a good investment? I do have a Canon 580ex flash that I thought I may use offset with a diffuser. Thanks for the cropping tips. I will play with that tonight.
Magnificent shot! The leaves underneath don't distract, though the center droplet looks hot, as Steve said. Tweaking that and touching up the upper left corner (ulc) would make this a knockout. Goal of abstraction achieved!
Hi Chris: It's a bit counter intuitive, but I think I'd try putting the center at one of the 1/3 points used in classical composition-probably the upper left point. You caught the drops very nicely. BTW, the 100 f2.8 macro is a great lens. I don't know if they've made it an IS yet, but you don't need that. If they have, I'd go used and save the extra money.
Thank everyone. I did go back and crop it again as per your suggestions. I also gave in and brushed the exposure of the large center drop down .35 to reduce the blown highlights.
Discussion
11 repliesI was using my Canon PowerShot G12 set in AV and Macro mode. f4.5 @ 1/250
I did adjust contrast, exposure and sharpness in Lightroom and added just a touch of vibrance.
Appreciate any feedback on cropping and fill lighting.
Do you think I should have used some other form of fill light such as reflector screen or off set fill flash? Without dodging/burning in the large drop, I tried to find a balance on exposure control and contrast for rest of drops. I wanted to preserve purity of image as much as I could so I did not pull out all the other editing tricks. Thanks for the advice. Tomorrow I will submit an image of a Columbine taken at the same time. I would like advice on cropping for effect please.
As for cropping, I wouldn't do much. The drops make nice leading lines and pull the eye into the center and I wouldn't want to diminish that effect. You might try cropping a small amount from the top, just enough to remove the orange spot in the top left corner, and a more from the left side. That moves the plant center a bit to the upper left. I would experiment with it a bit and see what you like best. For me, I prefer having the focal point (the big drop in the plant center) off-centered.
I hope this helps.
By the way I have the canon f2.8L IS USM, it is a wonderful lens!
Craig