Saturday, June 18, 2011

Roses Macro Workshop

On Wednesday, I went to the Portland Rose Gardens to take a photography workshop/class with my Photoshop instructor. It was a class on macro photography, which I am keenly interested in. I used my macro screw-on filters and learned that using these filters (vs a proper macro lens -- mucho moola) can create what is called a "chromatic aberration" of blue, orange, and green halos (possibly other colors as well, of course -- that is just what I see in my own results). There are a couple photos that I really liked with these odd halos -- I emailed one to the instructor and asked his opinion, and he said that sometimes the screw on filters can create these anomalies.

The effect can be kind of cool, in a psychedelic way, but if you want to actually print the photos in an enlarged state, then the aberration is very very UNcool. Buying a macro lens (which has better optics, and no halo) is just not worth it right now though -- there are many other camera toys that I would prioritize higher.

Overall, actually, I am very happy with the photos. I wish I could get the drops of water to "pop" a little more. I was happy to achieve the right colors for what I remember of the flowers; I'm happy with my angles and framing while shooting; I'm happy (mostly) with the crispness of the photos, which seems better than what I am used to seeing with my camera; and I'm happy with my editing decisions with the photos, all edited from RAW. I'm definitely starting to feel more comfortable with this RAW thing.

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Click through to my Roses Macro Workshop set on Flickr for better viewing.
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3 comments:

  1. ChristieJune 18, 2011 at 7:53 AM

    The chromatic aberration looked very cool but it's nice to know it can be fixed. Was that a time-consuming process? Were you more likely to see it on extreme close-ups? You mentioned your instructor preferring the higher apertures, did you notice any particular settings that were your favorite? Thanks, again, for sharing info you learned in the class. I had fun playing with my tripod.

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  2. RacheleJune 18, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    I think it took about 5-10min per photo, to remove the halo. Thus, I only did it on three (maybe it was just two?) photos. The good thing is that the halo happens on high contrast edges, and those edges tend to be easier to select in Photoshop.

    Mostly, on the instructor's advice, I used a default of f/32 with 200mm focal length, and I was very happy with that combination. Mostly I found myself still wishing that the further-away petals were crisper. Only occasionally did I wish for more blur. So in general, I think that was the right decision. I could have used f/36 but he said often using the highest and lowest f-stop on a lens will introduce too much distortion or not be as crisp, so although my lens can go to f/36, I avoided that.

    I'm pretty busy for the next couple weeks, but perhaps we could do a couple summer evening photo outings while the light is still lasting so long?

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  3. ChristieJune 21, 2011 at 1:10 AM

    I would definitely be up for a couple evening shots. I know you had mentioned shooting from the top of the aerial tram, which could result in some cool photos. Are there particular evenings that work better for you? I just have to watch out for the Timbers games because I need to be at home so Darr can go to those but other than that I'm usually available. I'll email you to see if we can't get something on the calendar for late July/early August.

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