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Canon Image Challenge | all galleries >> History (Best Of) >> Best of C*I*C >> Best of 2012 > First - Deep Red by Michael Kilpatrick
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04-AUG-2012 Michael Kilpatrick

First - Deep Red by Michael Kilpatrick

Three shots, focused on different planes of the subject and blended from a stack in Photoshop.

Olympus OM-D E-M5
2s f/8.0 at 40.0mm iso200 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
comment
Michael Kilpatrick14-Aug-2012 23:04
Actually, those flowers (I don't know what they are) are so intensely coloured that they look artificial in real life. I'm curious now as to whether the red channel might be blown out though, so I'll check when I get home tonight. Cheers, Michael
Canon Image Challenge14-Aug-2012 21:58
It's a great image & I do think the purple is a nice contrast. Shu
Michael Kilpatrick14-Aug-2012 21:50
There's certainly quite a lot of purple in it, although on my IMac and my work monitor, the background flower looks entirely red, as do the backlit parts of the foreground flower, so to me it looks like there is more red than purple. I can't say I have noticed the problem with reds that you describe, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. I don't have the flowers any more, but when I shot it, I thought this was a reasonably accurate representation of how they looked. Not sure what else to say about it, really. Regards, Michael
Canon Image Challenge14-Aug-2012 12:55
Michael, while I love the detail and the lighting and the technique (it's a great shot which I will probably vote for) I find myself questioning the purple. I want to accept it for what it is, but having shot a lot of red for this challenge with the OM-D, I can't help wondering if this is a purple issue similar to I've been encountering when shooting deep red. I've found the red channel of the OM-D quite challenging (it seems boosted and therefore blows early, while blue and/or green remains dominant). I hope at least some of this makes sense, especially the part about me liking the image!

-Najinsky
Guest 10-Aug-2012 22:25
Gorgeous!!!!!
Michael Kilpatrick05-Aug-2012 00:04
Thanks everyone. It was night time, where I live, when the comments were posted and I haven't been able to respond until now, but Paul has answered Jim's questions.
I wouldn't have had enough dof to capture the whole subject in one shot, no matter how much I stopped down. In fact, I should have taken more than 3 shots though, so I might try it again if I have time today.
Shu, it was just shot with the flowers near a window, with my black tablet computer case behind them and the flowers angled so they were partially backlit.
Stacking the images in Photoshop is a pretty simple procedure, with auto align available as an option. Then Edit/Auto Blend Layers.
Thanks for pointing out the ghost Paul. I'll fix it.
Regards, Michael
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 23:27
what i like best about this is the lighting on and thru the petals. something not possible w/o combine Z i would guess. shu
kchristian 04-Aug-2012 21:43
Excellent work! - Ken
Guest 04-Aug-2012 21:34
Love the reds here!

Sierra
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 20:16
Fabulous Michael!! Such a gorgeous color! I must go home and read your comments as to how you combined your 3 shots. Thanks for posting in eligible. Shu
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 20:14
You'll see that there isn't any comparison between the two. f22 softens up too much where f8 keeps it in the sweet zone. And then you would have to compensate with 3 times the light and it would only add about another inch of DOF. Paul
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 15:19
Paul - I just picked up combine Z. I'll give it a try one of these days.

I'm still curious as to how it compares on a subject like this (not a macro) taken at a very large f stop.

Jim
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 15:16
Excellent!
K
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 14:43
Classic excellent work Michael, it made my eyebrows go up! I do see one very small area on the tip of a flower pedal right in the middle of the frame that has a ghost. 1+ on voting!

To Jim: When you stack images you use the sweet zone of your lens, that way you get the best image possible and then you shoot as many stacks as needed to get all you want in focus. It can be done with PSE by manual masking, I've done it many times. I also use a free little program called combine Z. Paul
Canon Image Challenge04-Aug-2012 14:05
A lovely image. I like the subject, composition, and overall sharpness. Very well done.

I see you used 3 blended shots at f/8. Why did you choose that value? I thought that blending was generally done on much smaller f values.

Similarly, do you think you would have had the same clarity and sharpness if you shot at something like f/16 or f/22 (I have PSE, not PS, and can only blend layers by eye).

Jim