Fly on a Leaf - Using Ziggy's Post Processing

[redleash]

Would love some C&C on this one. I thought of entering it in the "Trees" mini-challenge, but to me it is more about leaves than trees. It was shot in Raw, with a 70-300 Nikkor zoom, at 300mm, auto exposure at 1/160 and f5.6. PP was something experimental:

1. Copied Background layer (first changed BG to Layer 1) and did minor Levels adjustment
2. Applied high pass filter at about 45
3. erased part of leaf with fly, including fly
4. Changed high pass layer to Luminosity at 46% opacity
5. Copied Layer 1 and moved to top of stack
6. Changed Layer 1 to Multiply at 57% opacity

1. "Flyleaves"
http://redleash.smugmug.com/photos/614084126_YBtcQ-L.jpg

[TonyCooper]

I don't find the photo to be all that interesting. I don't find anything to focus on and say "That's what she photographed". You have some nice, sharp brown leaves in the foreground, a leaf in the midground that is both in and out of focus, and an out-of-focus fly. The background, especially in the upper left corner, is distracting.

I am, though, always interested in new Photoshop treatments. Not being able to see the original, I can't tell what those steps did to the image.

Hope you don't mind critical C&C. You've posted some very nice stuff in the past, but not everything's a keeper.

[redleash]

Hi Tony-

I don't mind your C&C at all--it helps me learn. I think I was attracted by the colors in the middle leaf so maybe I saw more in the image than there really is. I knew much of it was out of focus and I tried to use the PP to enhance the in-focus part of the center leaf. Not much I could do with the fly. As you say, not all shots are keepers. Thanks for your nice comment about my other work.

FWIW, here is the original shot.

http://redleash.smugmug.com/photos/614411294_syhP5-L.jpg

[Azzaro]

HI Lauren...
A couple of thoughts on your pic.
1. I would crop it on the left side and the top to get rid of the distraction in the left corner. And I think a tighter crop would help out your center of interest.

2. Look at your histogram it shows that it is a little dark.. If you would lighten it, the center of interest would stand out more.

3. I would PP it so the leaf and fly stand out and says this is my center of interest.

4. I would use a different PP.

I wouldn't give up on it just yet....... azzaro

[redleash]

Thanks, Azzaro! I will give it another try and see how it turns out. I have soooo many shots to work on . . . I'm about ready to dump 90% of them and start over! :cry

[jeffmeyers]

Is this the only shot you have of this? The fly is out of focus. Your focus point is the front of the leaf and the depth of field isn't large enough to include the fly. The eye is always going to go to the leaf and not the fly. That's the fundamental problem with this image. If you took multiple shots, perhaps you have one where the fly is in focus.

[redleash]

Thanks, Jeff - No other shot, this is the only one. I think I will move on to other shots that should be more appealing.

Lauren