First attempt at flower close-up...

[theMusicMan]

Jen (my wife) had several bunches of flowers given to her by the parents of her Playgroup children over the last few days so this evening I experimented with some close up work. Please remember, this is ALL new to me and I know I have loads to learn.

Critique most welcomed though, thanks.
http://www.themouthpiece.com/images/flower01.jpg

[photostar_1]

Well done for trying....macro is actually quite hard to pull off.

The flash is a bit bright, do you know how to turn it down a bit with your camera? It would then look at bit more natural.

Were you handholding......tripods are best for macro; you are so magnified that even the tinniest movement of the shutter can affect focus. This pic is almost there....try a bit of sharpening on the centre yelow area to bring it out.

[theMusicMan]

Well done for trying....macro is actually quite hard to pull off. Thanks... I am here to learn and welcome all comments photostar_1

The flash is a bit bright, do you know how to turn it down a bit with your camera? It would then look at bit more natural.
Not really...!!! I will investigate and test out. The camera is an Olympus E400 and I see the flash settings however, what I set it to other than Auto or off I need to ascertain!!! Slow...? 1/4, 1/64 ...?

Were you handholding......tripods are best for macro; you are so magnified that even the tinniest movement of the shutter can affect focus. This pic is almost there....try a bit of sharpening on the centre yelow area to bring it out.

Yes I was handholding.

How do I sharpen just the center of the image - the yellow bit... without affecting the rest of the image. I am on a Mac and have both Lightroom and Aperture - I spend waaaaay too much on stuff :)

[photostar_1]

I'm a beginner at this kind of thing.....I know the theory that it can be done by masking things....but I don't know how.....so I usually draw a lasso shape around the area I want to selectively sharpen, feather it so as to blend it and then apply sharpening via the unsharp mask. I know that's a bit basic and others will no doubt have much better, more sophisticated ways.

[Messiah Khan]

I know that's a bit basic and others will no doubt have much better, more sophisticated ways.

Duplicate the layer, desaturate it, then apply a highpass filter(Filter>Other>Highpass) Change the settings until you can just see the edges coming through. Set this layer blending mode to Overlay/Soft light/Hard light/Vivid light and this will sharpen the image. Now the fun part.. set the blending mode back to Normal again. Get a paintbrush and set the colour to a mid grey (R:128 G:128 B:128) and paint out any areas that you don't want sharpened. Once your finished, change the blending mode back to how you want it.:)

[theMusicMan]

Duplicate the layer, desaturate it, then apply a highpass filter(Filter>Other>Highpass) Change the settings until you can just see the edges coming through. Set this layer blending mode to Overlay/Soft light/Hard light/Vivid light and this will sharpen the image. Now the fun part.. set the blending mode back to Normal again. Get a paintbrush and set the colour to a mid grey (R:128 G:128 B:128) and paint out any areas that you don't want sharpened. Once your finished, change the blending mode back to how you want it.:)
Wow - some in depth knowledge of PS there Messiah, I shall try it though. Thanks.