Your opinion? Post-Processing examples

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grphotog641

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Apr 23, 2020
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I'm new to macro, but have been doing digital photography as a hobby for about the last 10 years (and B&W film long before that).
For most of my shooting, I've tried to keep my post-processing as realistic as possible - boost some levels, fix some noise, etc. This is particularly the case for the sports photography that I spent most of the fall and winter doing.
Recently I find that I've been more aggressive with my post processing and trying to get a little more arty or a little more dramatic. I guess you could say I'm trying to find my style.

Anyway, here are some examples of post processing and pulling something interesting out of what might look boring at first.
Image is a buttercup taking with a D500 and Sigma 105mm macro @ f/8, 1/250s, ISO400. Handheld with cheap speedlight with the little plastic diffuser that it came with.

Image 1: RAW image with only Lightroom auto-tone applied. I consider this the "before" image
Image 2: Processing in Lightroom with Topaz Sharpen AI used for a little sharpen/denoise
Image 3: Processing in Lightroom, NIK Color Efex, Lightroom again, and Topaz Sharpen AI used for a little sharpen/denoise
DSC_0459-3.jpg DSC_0459-Edit-3.jpg DSC_0462-Edit-2.jpg
 
Last edited:

Shan

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Apr 12, 2020
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lovely comparisons. your monochrome film history is evident by pushing up the contrasts. that brings out he texture by contrasting the veins of the petals nicely. was there any vignetting applied?
 
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grphotog641

New Member
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Apr 23, 2020
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lovely comparisons. your monochrome film history is evident by pushing up the contrasts. that brings out he texture by contrasting the veins of the petals nicely. was there any vignetting applied?
Thanks - and I think you are right (and very insightful) about this being influenced by my background in B&W. Even after all these years, I still feel like I haven't really figured out how to incorporate color into my composition. I also find it incredibly difficult to capture the vibrancy of flowers without the images looking oversaturated or fake. I think those two challenges have made me less comfortable in post-processing floral shots in a more standard way, so instead I push (as you noticed) elements like lines and textures that I'm more comfortable with.

There's a lot of vignetting. Or more accurately, there's a lightroom radial filter knocking out most of the background and darkening the edges of the petals.
 

nataliaflejszar&Photo

Welcome to the beautiful North of Europe :)
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Apr 18, 2020
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For me nice work with the second an thirds one. Nice, creative editing 😊

I'm using too Lightroom to process my all pictures and some times Ps for more.. Lightroom classic cc is such great editing software that .. I've been falling in love on them for the start.
Is so easy to us and fast! And so many possibles to edit pictures. Great work and lot of thanks for Adobe 😊😉👨‍💻
And geat is too that in Creative Cloud packet the Adobe put the PS too.. get use everything to create great pictures 😊
 
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Helix_2648

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Apr 20, 2020
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I fully agree. The second picture is my favorite.
From time to time I'm also trying to make some photos from flowers to try something new in my post-processing.

From my point of view it looks great to play a bit with the micro contrast and improved shadows to highlight the structure of the flower. And yes you're right by the colour set-up in general. That's a difficult part of the post-processing and sometimes my pictures are also oversaturised.

Here is an example from 2017:
IMG_6413.jpg
 

Suresh Khaire

New Member
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Apr 15, 2020
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I fully agree. The second picture is my favorite.
From time to time I'm also trying to make some photos from flowers to try something new in my post-processing.

From my point of view it looks great to play a bit with the micro contrast and improved shadows to highlight the structure of the flower. And yes you're right by the colour set-up in general. That's a difficult part of the post-processing and sometimes my pictures are also oversaturised.

Here is an example from 2017:
View attachment 1526
Fantabulous shot with regards,
 
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nataliaflejszar&Photo

Welcome to the beautiful North of Europe :)
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Apr 18, 2020
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P1260071.jpg

I\m understanding too your point of view, I love pictures like it, and I\ve much of like this.. and I win a one cometition with one my photo, macro with black backrgoun.. I\ll show it in better time :D
Here is a diffrent one.. :D
 

Suresh Khaire

New Member
2
Apr 15, 2020
54
86
12
I'm new to macro, but have been doing digital photography as a hobby for about the last 10 years (and B&W film long before that).
For most of my shooting, I've tried to keep my post-processing as realistic as possible - boost some levels, fix some noise, etc. This is particularly the case for the sports photography that I spent most of the fall and winter doing.
Recently I find that I've been more aggressive with my post processing and trying to get a little more arty or a little more dramatic. I guess you could say I'm trying to find my style.

Anyway, here are some examples of post processing and pulling something interesting out of what might look boring at first.
Image is a buttercup taking with a D500 and Sigma 105mm macro @ f/8, 1/250s, ISO400. Handheld with cheap speedlight with the little plastic diffuser that it came with.

Image 1: RAW image with only Lightroom auto-tone applied.
Image 2: Processing in Lightroom with Topaz Sharpen AI used for a little sharpen/denoise
Image 3: Processing in Lightroom, NIK Color Efex, Lightroom again, and Topaz Sharpen AI used for a little sharpen/denoise
View attachment 1515 View attachment 1516 View attachment 1517
First one is little by soft whereas second and third is very good. Here is my shot of flower :

1. Adenium petal in rain
2. A little finger tip size flower
3. Flower stem in rain

All the shots are edited in Photoshop CC 2018. _SK_8206 copy.jpg FM_RED__SK_7035.jpg PL_KS_SK_6586_2.jpg
Regards,