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- This topic has 14 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 11 months ago by James Staddon.
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January 5, 2015 at 5:36 pm #9022Mr. QuebecParticipantJanuary 5, 2015 at 6:11 pm #9024James StaddonKeymaster
Beautiful shot! Spiderwebs always need a dark background. The contrast of the light and dark side of every single drop of water is essential. Well focused.
Compositionally, keep the center of the spiderweb out of the center portion of the image.
Looks like a high ISO was used. With a tripod, and if it wasn’t a windy day, you could bring your ISO down for less grain.
The photo is slightly underexposed. It’s better than overexposed, but I think the droplets need to be brighter, standing off from the dark background as much as they can.
Might find this article helpful: http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/how-to-photograph-spider-webs
- This reply was modified 54 years, 11 months ago by .
January 5, 2015 at 6:31 pm #9028Ezra MorleyModeratorGood Shot! I have tried several times to take pictures of dew-laden spider webs, and I don’t think I ever got anything that good!
It could use a little bit more sharpening maybe, (if you can limit the sharpening to just the areas that need sharpened that is.)
January 5, 2015 at 7:06 pm #9035Mr. QuebecParticipantJanuary 5, 2015 at 7:24 pm #9040Mr. QuebecParticipantJanuary 6, 2015 at 5:43 pm #9057James StaddonKeymasterPerfect! Maybe it’s my screen, but I like the first re-edit, the one posted at 7:06pm. The contrast isn’t unnatural and there’s less grain.
January 6, 2015 at 8:43 pm #9066Ezra MorleyModeratorI also like the “first” edit better, except for the cropping. I liked all those cute little curves at the top of the frame, the strands that are heavy with dew. Maybe you could crop so that they are more visible? 🙂 (Just my personal preference of course)
In regards to the noise issue, the very first picture you posted was the “cleanest”, the next two definitely have more noise. I don’t know what happened there, but whatever you did to the first one was the right thing.
January 7, 2015 at 9:26 am #9069James StaddonKeymasterI’m assuming the lack of clarity is from the program being used. WindowsLive, @Mr.Quebec?
And as for cropping, opinions of what is best will certainly very from person to person. Intentionally position either center or off-center.
January 7, 2015 at 5:49 pm #9077Mr. QuebecParticipantI used Windows Live for editing, but GIMP for sharpening (that’s probably why the two last edits look grainy), I tried noise reduction with Windows Live, but it didn’t seem to make a big difference.
buddingphotographer asked :I liked all those cute little curves at the top of the frame, the strands that are heavy with dew. Maybe you could crop so that they are more visible? 🙂 (Just my personal preference of course)
What do you mean by that? Cropping the bottom of the frame?
January 7, 2015 at 6:27 pm #9081Ezra MorleyModeratorYes, just cropping off more of the bottom instead of the top!
That’s strange, GIMP shouldn’t be adding noise! 🙁 Are you using the “Unsharp Mask”? If so, try raising the “threshold” and see if it helps. Also try saving the picture at 100% jpg compression, and see if that improves it any.
January 7, 2015 at 6:39 pm #9082Mr. QuebecParticipantJanuary 7, 2015 at 7:36 pm #9086Ezra MorleyModeratorYes, I like that! It does seem to cut off almost too much from the bottom though, maybe you’ll just have to compromise to get everything in…
Now the noise in that one is back down again, did you use GIMP for it or not?
January 7, 2015 at 7:55 pm #9091Mr. QuebecParticipantNow the noise in that one is back down again, did you use GIMP for it or not?
No, I didn’t use GIMP for this one. I edited my original, although I can’t tell if it was my very first original or the one edited later with GIMP. ( I had these two copies mixed up. 🙁 )
- This reply was modified 54 years, 11 months ago by .
January 7, 2015 at 8:15 pm #9096Ezra MorleyModeratorIf you right-click on the image in question , select “Properties”, then click on the “Details” tab, and it might show which software was used last…
You could also check the “File Modified” date, to see which one was edited first.
- This reply was modified 54 years, 11 months ago by .
January 8, 2015 at 7:43 am #9105James StaddonKeymasterSometimes I’ll rename the file to include an “_a”, “_b”, “_c”, etc. at the end of the filename to help me visually remember which image came first if I’m needing to save multiple files.
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