A bee and a flower

Overread · May 9, 2008

I used the layer mask to selectivly reduce the noise in the background and up the sharpness (unsharpen mask) in the forground. Aside from that just a basic auto levels after the conversion from RAW.
Any comments/crits as to how this has worked (have I overdone things anywhere)?

original image no longer avalible - please refer to 3rd post for updated version of original after tpe's comments
Taken with: Cannon EOS 400D and Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro lens
at; f11 ISO 800, 1/200sec

tpe · May 9, 2008

The only thing i am not sure about is the auto levels, It may have gone too far on the bee and flower as there is a lot of near white in it, perhaps you could have done it on the forground and background seperatly as you did the rest? the rest is great, really nice that the oof areas did not turn out grainy that really can be annoying in an othewise good shot and the usm has worked wwell so there is a really nice distinction between the for and background.

tim

Overread · May 9, 2008

Thanks tpe - I did a reedit and did the levels as you said and I think its worked really well - I also brigtened up a few spots on the foreground where the levels left them very dark:

new edit:

link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3261315088_1d75922c1b_o.jpg

theadamsociety · May 9, 2008

Great shot, I like it. There's just one thing that bothers me I'm not sure exactly. I'd like to see the photo without the background photoshopped. I think the adjustments maybe make the flower+bee look a little super-imposed.

Overread · May 10, 2008

hmm interesting thought:
here it is with no editing of the background and foreground by layers - just normal application of noise removal and sharpening

direct link to larger; http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/3261316868_a5238c9cb5_o.jpg

theadamsociety · May 10, 2008

Well I don't see any halo so it's not over done. However the one you just posted does look better to me. Possibly the purple in the background of the original is popping to much? It seems more subtle in the update.