Orange Fungus (Macro Shot)

[gmitchel]

Here is another of my last Canon 10D images. It's an orange fungus at Maclay
Gardens SP in Tallahassee, FL.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/MaclayGardens_0222_Framed_Web_550pixel.jpg

This was a 1 second exposure at f/18 to get plenty of DOF. I shot
at 100 ISO and exposed to the right to minimize noise. I used mirror
lock-up for added sharpness.

Canon 180mm "L" macro lens. 1:1 reproduction ratio with narrower FOV
from the 1.6x cropping factor.

I used two-pass sharpening technique with actions from my TLR
Sharpening Toolkit.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/Digital Darkroom/PhotoshopTools/TLRSharpeningToolkit.htm

The first round was 6 pixel Highpass Sharpening with a luminosity
mask to restore sharpness lost during digital capture.

The second round was output sharpening. I used settings to enhance
contrast. 20, 10, 0.

The only other adjustment I made outside of ACR II was a
Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. In ACR II, I adjusted the White Balance to
warm the image a bit and the shadows a bit.

Comments are welcome! :)

Cheers,

Mitch

_________________
Glenn E. Mitchell II
http://www.thelightsright.com
http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com

[Hellashot]

Who would want to buy a picture of fungus? lol

Hellashot

[JK]

Mitch,

I think there's almost too much depth of field in this one - the background is a bit too distracting in my opinion.

I understand what you're trying to achieve, but the background detracts from the main subject.

Cheers,

JK

[gmitchel]

Mitch,

I think there's almost too much depth of field in this one - the background is a bit too distracting in my opinion.

I understand what you're trying to achieve, but the background detracts from the main subject.

Cheers,

JK

I tend to agree.

I often shoot with maximum DOF. Then I select the subject, whch is very easy with something like the Magic Wand or Color Range in this case. Then I save the channel as a selection and use it as a depth mask with with the Lens Blur filter to back back and soften the background.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers,

Mitch