Common Darter

[daveyboy123]

Hi all,
here are some shots from a week ago...

1 common Darter
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/IMG_3677copy.jpg



2
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/IMG_3691copy.jpg



3 Who needs a MPE-65mm?.............I do,but I cant afford one;)
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/IMG_3696.jpg

[racketman]

excellent detail, might want to darken the highlights a touch unless my screen is too bright?

[LindaB]

Agree with Toby, slightly on the bright side with the highlights, but apart from that they are wonderful pics.

Saw my first common darter today :D :D - you forget just how small these are when you havent seen them for so long.

Lovely to see yours.

Linda

[macro junkie]

there over exposed a tad..toby..your screen is probably fine..i know mine is..i got my new lcd up and running and calibrated..the images are to bright.probely 2/3 over exposed.

[macro junkie]

Hi all,
here are some shots from a week ago...

1 common Darter



2


3 Who needs a MPE-65mm?.............I do,but I cant afford one;)

Where did u find it?

[daveyboy123]

Do these look better now guys?These shots were taken at Stover country park in Devon/England for those that want to know....

Reprocessed shots
1
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/web3.jpg



2
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/web2.jpg



3
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/web1.jpg

[racketman]

not much better to be honest. I had a go at them in PSE but they ended up looking artificial, need to get exposure more accurate next time; shame as otherwise they are vg.

Mind you the iMac 24" screen is notoriously too bright :( and can't be turned down -maybe they will provide a fix.

[LindaB]

There is something wrong with the black on the photos which I dont think you can recover - unless a real whiz in photoshop can do something. I have just played with it and although the photo looks slightly better in one respect, the black is still bad unfortunately.

Here is my tinkering.

[Bill Pham]

second set do look alot better. not so bright now. still nice shot. i can't seem to get near them yet.

Bill 1

[daveyboy123]

OK,thanks for your help everyone.

[macro junkie]

Linda's one is spot on..aim for that sort of exposure.well imo any way :)brialnt shots by the way.they are really good..

[macro junkie]

not much better to be honest. I had a go at them in PSE but they ended up looking artificial, need to get exposure more accurate next time; shame as otherwise they are vg.

Mind you the iMac 24" screen is notoriously too bright :( and can't be turned down -maybe they will provide a fix.
when i got my screen i got a cd with it called natural colour and magic tune..it lets me celebrate my moniter.also windows one isnt to bad.

mayby now u have a really good monitor its time to buy a decent calibrator for it?will be worth it in the end toby.:)

[daveyboy123]

There is something wrong with the black on the photos which I dont think you can recover - unless a real whiz in photoshop can do something. I have just played with it and although the photo looks slightly better in one respect, the black is still bad unfortunately.

Here is my tinkering.

Thanks all.The strange thing is that I have shots of this Darter at a couple of different exposures and when I tweak them I still get that blue hue to the blacks.....can anyone explain this?I use a homemade diffuser,the coke can type,with a 430EX,40D and 150mm Sigma macro lens.

[LordV]

Lovely shots but agree the colour/ lightness is a bit odd- did you use the shadow/highlight tool in PS on them as that can give this slightly odd look ?

[daveyboy123]

I am going to have another look at these over the next few days,ill post the results if there is improvement,the RAW files dont look bad at all....Thanks again for your help everyone.

[LindaB]

I am going to have another look at these over the next few days,ill post the results if there is improvement,the RAW files dont look bad at all....Thanks again for your help everyone.

When I do my post processing, I only use the highlight/shadows and adjust to my taste but only if I need to. On the photo of yours that I tweaked, I adjusted the levels and the highlight/shadows option until I got it as good as I could get it.

I reckon it could well be something to do with your diffuser - by a cheap Stofen Omnibounce at £15 if you dont want to spend say £30 on a Lumiquest Softbox, it wont affect your black areas thats for sure.

Linda

[alliec]

Lovley shots, had a quick go myself but couldnt recover the blacks. Would be interested to see the unedited RAW file for one shot and have a go at processing it.

[dpastern]

Well, I think that they're a lovely set. 2nd set of shots are slightly better. I'm on my new PC now, don't have Photoshop installed yet, nor my Huey Pro, so not going to try any editing. Sad thing is, my Mark IIn won't work with Vista it seems, crappy Canon. More of a reason to move to Nikon.

Dave

[skylab]

Lovely captures. Re. the odd colour ting.
In PS. go to levels and drag the black slider towards the middle a bit that will bring the dark colours back. You will have to adjust a bit, have a look, then maybe adjust some more.

[daveyboy123]

OK,
I had another quick go at it.I adjusted the Blues with the selective colour sliders in photoshop...

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l5/daveyboys/web2-1.jpg

[Sugarman]

Great job Dave-I really like #3.