«

Or buzzing things like bees But I never seem to mind Getting close to these

http://photofan.multiply.com/photos/photo/9/1.jpg

Renee wrote:
> Or buzzing things like bees But I never seem to mind Getting close to these
>
> http://photofan.multiply.com/photos/photo/9/1.jpg



Always a joy to photograph! And as you say not easy to chase them around
looking for a shot.

I downloaded that first one & adjusted the brightness & contrast (er
gamma levels & curves) to get a better exposure on the butterfly & the
background went clean white except a bit of shadow under the bug. No
problem losing that painted pool deck texture.

"paul" <> wrote in message
newsoWdnTfTQJLZOPDfRVn-...
> Renee wrote:
>> Or buzzing things like bees But I never seem to mind Getting close to
>> these
>>
>> http://photofan.multiply.com/photos/photo/9/1.jpg
>
>
>
> Always a joy to photograph! And as you say not easy to chase them around
> looking for a shot.
>
> I downloaded that first one & adjusted the brightness & contrast (er gamma
> levels & curves) to get a better exposure on the butterfly & the
> background went clean white except a bit of shadow under the bug. No
> problem losing that painted pool deck texture.

Yes, I had a lot of trouble with my exposure. The subject and I were in the
shade, the pool and deck reflected so much light that it kept coming out
dark, and so I finally decided it looked best with a +2/3 EV using AEB. I
also tried some other shots using a fast shutter because of all the
movement, and as you see, those came out a lot darker. I know this kind of
stuff comes easy to the pros and comes out a lot better using a pro camera.
But I'm happy just to have gotten what I did.

Are your adjustments an improvement? If so, I'd be very interested in
getting that first one you fixed up. Do you have some place I can download
it from?

TIA

Renee

Renee wrote:

> "paul" <> wrote in message
> newsoWdnTfTQJLZOPDfRVn-...
>
>>Renee wrote:
>>
>>>Or buzzing things like bees But I never seem to mind Getting close to
>>>these
>>>
>>>http://photofan.multiply.com/photos/photo/9/1.jpg
>>
>>
>>
>>Always a joy to photograph! And as you say not easy to chase them around
>>looking for a shot.
>>
>>I downloaded that first one & adjusted the brightness & contrast (er gamma
>>levels & curves) to get a better exposure on the butterfly & the
>>background went clean white except a bit of shadow under the bug. No
>>problem losing that painted pool deck texture.
>
>
> Yes, I had a lot of trouble with my exposure. The subject and I were in the
> shade, the pool and deck reflected so much light that it kept coming out
> dark, and so I finally decided it looked best with a +2/3 EV using AEB. I
> also tried some other shots using a fast shutter because of all the
> movement, and as you see, those came out a lot darker. I know this kind of
> stuff comes easy to the pros and comes out a lot better using a pro camera.
> But I'm happy just to have gotten what I did.
>
> Are your adjustments an improvement? If so, I'd be very interested in
> getting that first one you fixed up. Do you have some place I can download
> it from?


http://www.edgehill.net/temp/
Some purple (fringing?) effects on the antenae but overall kind of an
'angel in the clouds' feeling.

I'm not accustomed to using levels but this time I used levels to
brighten up the midpoint (butterfly) then used curves to increase the
contrast which blew the background out. I think it looks fine, no
obvious purple fringe problems, I usually see awful things happening at
the edge with something like that.

"paul" <> wrote in message
news:HY6dnQsmDqU-VfDfRVn-...
> Renee wrote:
>
>> "paul" <> wrote in message
>> newsoWdnTfTQJLZOPDfRVn-...
>>
>>>Renee wrote:
>>>
>>>>Or buzzing things like bees But I never seem to mind Getting close to
>>>>these
>>>>
>>>>http://photofan.multiply.com/photos/photo/9/1.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Always a joy to photograph! And as you say not easy to chase them around
>>>looking for a shot.
>>>
>>>I downloaded that first one & adjusted the brightness & contrast (er
>>>gamma levels & curves) to get a better exposure on the butterfly & the
>>>background went clean white except a bit of shadow under the bug. No
>>>problem losing that painted pool deck texture.
>>
>>
>> Yes, I had a lot of trouble with my exposure. The subject and I were in
>> the shade, the pool and deck reflected so much light that it kept coming
>> out dark, and so I finally decided it looked best with a +2/3 EV using
>> AEB. I also tried some other shots using a fast shutter because of all
>> the movement, and as you see, those came out a lot darker. I know this
>> kind of stuff comes easy to the pros and comes out a lot better using a
>> pro camera. But I'm happy just to have gotten what I did.
>>
>> Are your adjustments an improvement? If so, I'd be very interested in
>> getting that first one you fixed up. Do you have some place I can
>> download it from?
>
>
> http://www.edgehill.net/temp/
> Some purple (fringing?) effects on the antenae but overall kind of an
> 'angel in the clouds' feeling.
>
> I'm not accustomed to using levels but this time I used levels to brighten
> up the midpoint (butterfly) then used curves to increase the contrast
> which blew the background out. I think it looks fine, no obvious purple
> fringe problems, I usually see awful things happening at the edge with
> something like that.

It looks very good! Thank you, Paul!

Had to keep switching between the two to see the difference. Your colors
look more vibrant.

I downloaded it but noticed it was only 640 x 480 and 50k. Do you have a
higher res image I can somehow get from you?

Also, I imagine adding some colorful, complementary backdrop to that all
white background might really enhance photo. I'll have to play around with
that one.

Renee wrote:
>
> Also, I imagine adding some colorful, complementary backdrop to that all
> white background might really enhance photo. I'll have to play around with
> that one.


http://www.edgehill.net/temp/more.htm

: - )

(ack, stop me)

PS I got that blue from the shadows on the ground with the eyedropper tool.

paul wrote:

> Renee wrote:
>
>>
>> Also, I imagine adding some colorful, complementary backdrop to that
>> all white background might really enhance photo. I'll have to play
>> around with that one.
>
>
>
> http://www.edgehill.net/temp/more.htm
>
> : - )
>
> (ack, stop me)

"paul" <> wrote in message
newsNWdnR4-z_dhQPDfRVn-...
> Renee wrote:
>>
>> Also, I imagine adding some colorful, complementary backdrop to that all
>> white background might really enhance photo. I'll have to play around
>> with that one.
>
>
> http://www.edgehill.net/temp/more.htm
>
> : - )
>
> (ack, stop me)

- Wow, that's *my* butterfly!?! Thank you! The butterfly has a better
color and blue looks very good with it. I also like what you did by shading
the blue from light to dark. That's a nice effect.

I've been wanting to pick up some colored Hanes for making myself some yard
T-shirts. I thought I'd put some of my photos on them using transfer paper.
Certainly not because they're particularly wonderful, but because I'd like
to do something more with them than just store them on my hard drive. This
one might be just the ticket. It'll help keep me motivated while I'm out
picking garden weeds in the blazing sun this summer. I'll probably shape the
blue background into an oval and put a fancy border on it. A butterfly would
look good on a front shirt pocket, or blown up a little larger on the back.

It looks really nice, Paul. But a couple of questions -- I know it wasn't
perfect to begin with, but how ever did my right antennae get bent?

Did you cut the image out and place it on top of the background, or did you
use the paint bucket? If you used the paint bucket, could the effect have
been cause by -- since mentioned there was a slight purple fringe around the
antennae -- the blue bleeding into it when you poured the color? If you cut
out the butterfly, would expanding the selection outward a tiny bit have
made a difference. I know some programs have that feature to expand or
contract a selection by so many pixels. But I guess if you expanded the
selection outward a little more you might wind up with a white edge in some
places. Sorry -- don't mean to be rambling. I don't use photo editing
programs that much so I'm pretty curious about it. Not that any of this
matters -- I think it looks great and like it just the same.



Renee

Renee wrote:

> a couple of questions -- I know it wasn't
> perfect to begin with, but how ever did my right antennae get bent?
>

I didn't do it <g>


> Did you cut the image out and place it on top of the background, or did you
> use the paint bucket? If you used the paint bucket, could the effect have
> been cause by -- since mentioned there was a slight purple fringe around the
> antennae -- the blue bleeding into it when you poured the color?


Yep, I just used the magic want (same effect as paint bucket) repeatedly
on remaining bits & the butterfly has a black trim so it nevers spilled
over. There is still a bit of white trim remaining. The background was
done with layers but you could prepare the background in one image,
select the butterfly & paste onto the background. Paint-bucket pure
white then magic wand that & invert the selection or delete & copy the
remainder. What program do you have?


> If you cut
> out the butterfly, would expanding the selection outward a tiny bit have
> made a difference. I know some programs have that feature to expand or
> contract a selection by so many pixels.


Yep, that might help & your concern below might also be a problem. I did
it pretty quick & the picture was easy to work with!


> But I guess if you expanded the
> selection outward a little more you might wind up with a white edge in some
> places. Sorry -- don't mean to be rambling. I don't use photo editing
> programs that much so I'm pretty curious about it. Not that any of this
> matters -- I think it looks great and like it just the same.
>
>
>
> Renee
>
>

"paul" <> wrote in message
news8Sdncc3CtNHpvLfRVn-...
> Renee wrote:
>
>> a couple of questions -- I know it wasn't perfect to begin with, but how
>> ever did my right antennae get bent?
>>
>
> I didn't do it <g>
>

Hmmm, so say you . . . well I'm going to fixed my broken antennae now.



>What program do you have?
>

I have so many of them I can't keep track -- one each came with my new and
old desktops, another with my laptop, one from my husband's computer, one
each from my new and old printers, one each from my new and old cameras, and
a variety of other shareware ones I've picked up along the way. I want to
start using PS regularly, and I keep PSP around because it has a good noise
and chromatic aberration correction feature. I should just uninstall most of
them but every once in a while I find some redeeming quality in them that
could come in handy some time.

Renee