Close up photos without a macro lens?

Don't own a dedicated macro lens? Here's one simple way of achieving a macro look using a non-macro lens.

The flowers in these examples are less than an inch wide in real life. The shot was taken hand-held with front of lens approximately 10" from the two top flowers.
Camera settings used were: lens at 20mm, centre focus point selected with exposure mode on 'Centre Weighted' - f/3.5 at 1/200sec, ISO 400. File size set to RAW.

First image shows result after converting RAW file to .tif in PS Adobe Camera Raw. Already image is showing classic 'macro' attributes of subject in focus, background out of focus and foreground slightly out of focus.

Second image is cropped from first image for better composition and to make flowers larger in the frame. This result looks more like a macro shot.

I used my Sigma 10-20mm lens at 20mm for this exercise, but a standard 18-55mm kit lens could be used just as effectively.

Using HDR as a means to an end – when you don’t want the HDR look.

There are literally thousands of images residing in hundreds of galleries on hundreds of web sites that are (almost) without exception beautiful pieces of photographic art, and I applaud the authors for their creativity.

However, some photo communities do not accept HDR images into their group, preferring to feature only images that are a clear, detailed and attractive result that still looks “real” after post camera processing, without the “overcooked” look of many HDR images.

Also, sometimes I do not want my final image to be an obvious HDR image.

After 45+ years reproducing images in all sorts of print media a few basic lessons have stuck with me:

1. Get the tonal values right first.
2. Adjust colour balance to be as accurate as possible.
3. Improve contrast so that it not only looks good but also takes into account the printing process to be used in reproducing the image. For me, processing digital images has to follow these steps in that sequence.


By experimenting, I have found I can use the HDR technique as a TOOL for recovering tonal values, colour balance and contrast, in an image – so that it reflects what I saw at the time of making the image.
I then finish off my processing in Photoshop to ensure the scene looks ‘real’ without strange colour casts, excessive halos or the HDR ‘overcooked’ look.

For other photographers wanting to achieve similar results, here are the steps I go through, using HDR as a tool - the means to an end, rather than the end result itself.

Image 1. I have deliberately chosen this poorly exposed and composed image to demonstrate the process, not to suggest that it is a great image. This is exactly how it came out of the camera, captured as a raw file. We all have bad days from time to time

Image 2. The raw file processed via Lightroom to achieve better tonal range, better colours and contrast, straightening and better cropping.

Images 3, 4 and 5. The Lightroom file, saved as tif files in -1 EV, 0 EV and +1 EV ready for bracketing and tone-mapping in Photomatix v3. (Photomatix v3 gives more flexible control and subtle results than v2 and is a free upgrade for v2 owners.)

Image 6. The ‘default’ Details Enhancer result from Photomatix. Close to what we might normally expect a HDR image to look like.

Image 7. The same ‘default’ result with strength, colour saturation, luminosity, contrast, light smoothing, temperature and tone settings adjusted.

The aim of these adjustments is to achieve a more natural looking result whilst gaining clarity, contrast and definition in both the highlight and shadow areas. Definition that was not present in the original raw file.

Images 8 and 9. Images 6 and 7 respectively, finished off with further minor tone adjustments and sharpening applied in Photoshop.

Both of these colour results would be acceptable final images whether you are, or are not, a devotee of HDR as a photographic technique.

I usually find that this process will give me better looking images more quickly than solely processing an image in Photoshop to achieve similar results.

Please feel free to comment on this alternative use of HDR.

Before and After

I just had a play with an old photo, just a couple of changes. Background darkened, face and eyes made light and a little more saturation in the eyes. What do you think?

Before & After's

Hi all, thought I would post a before and after and roughly what I did!! Would love to see everyone else's tricks!

Basically, I was playing around with 'Pioneer Woman's' actions (which incidentally are very cool!)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/

I firstly added a cooling action (cant remember what called sorry) that really added the blue tones you see. I then slightly pumped the saturation. After this I copied a layer and sharpened it a lot, with the intention of rubbing out just the area on the frond that you can see is sharpest. The last thing was a 'quick edge burn' action to lift the shot and make you further focus on the sharp frond!! Hope you like!! P.S this is Kate!!