A flower from today...

[sommer]

This is my first time posting a picture here, so I hope I did it right. I'm not big on post-processing, so all I've done is crop and resize in PSCS2 :wink:

Any constructive criticism is welcomed...I'm so new to photography that every little bit helps. Suggestions as to how to improve it in photoshop would be helpful as well.

Taken with my D70 with 50mm f/1.8 lens in aperture priority, f/2.8 and shutter speed 1/800, no flash, 0 ev, sReala2 curve.

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[Steve S]

Nice job, just needs one thing,

Welcome to the board, btw! Nice job of isolating the blossom. What strikes me as needing a hefty dose of USM (Unsharp Masking) aka sharpening. How much in-cam sharpening do you have set on your D70, and how much did you sharpen after reducing it's size for web viewing?

 

[sommer]

Thanks, Steve. I have the in-camera sharpening set to +1, but I didn't do any sharpening at all after I resized it. I'm putting USM on my list of things to learn! Thanks for your input!

 

[Flew]

Sommer,

First, welcome to the Cafe. I think that you will enjoy it here. I agree with Steve, a little USM will help a ton. USM sharpens the edges in your images, and makes up for the slight blur caused by the camera anti-alias filter and as Steve said, the resize for the web.

I would also like to see your posted image size a little larger. Unlike some sites, we don't really have a limit, but the forum software will resize it to fit the page if it is wider than 960 pixels. Most post at 600 - 800 pixels on the wide side.

You are off to a good start. Let's see some more. :wink:

 

[sommer]

Trying once more...

Here's round 2....bigger and with USM applied I went with USM settings that were recommended for web sharpening: amount 400%, radius 0.3 and threshold 0. I wonder if the 400% is a bit much? I'm afraid I haven't developed much of an eye for this type of thing yet. I appreciate the comments I've received so far, and I welcome more! Thank you!

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[Flew]

You are certainly a quick study. ;-)

The best way to tell if you have too much USM is to look for halos around the edges of your shot, especially in areas of high contrast. I don't see halos, so I'd say you didn't overdo this one at all.

 

[Gale]

Looks great.
Beautiful flower.

Did you use a tripod.

I also have a 50 1.8 Great lens.

 

[sommer]

Thanks for your comments, Frank and Gale. I hope other aspects of photoshop are as easy to learn as the USM. I'm not sure why I'm so intimidated by that software, but for some reason, I am!

I didn't use a tripod for this shot, though I do have one...sitting in the corner :wink: I really should use the thing!