February flowers in the garden

GardenersHelper

GardenersHelper

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Nick
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These were all captured hand-held using natural light in the past week, apart from the last one, which was a couple of weeks ago. The first seven were captured with a 45-175 lens my G80, the last one with my G5, using the same lens.

The flowers were not perfect, because of the weather, but I think it's nice to see some flowers anyway. The first four are (different) camellias. The last three are (two different) hellebores.


#1 Single shot, ISO 800, f/10, 1/320 sec, processed in Silkypix and Lightroom.

1124 01 2017_02_17 P1280780 SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#2 Two shots, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/125 and 1/250 sec, HDR merged in Lightroom

1116 15 2017_02_13 HDR 2-stack P1280042-HDR RAW 2i LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#3 Single shot, ISO 800, f/11, 1/160 sec, processed in Silkypix and Lightroom.
My first insect capture of the year.

1124 03 2017_02_17 P1280793 SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#4 Single shot, ISO 200, f/10, 1/15 sec, processed in Silkypix and Lightroom.

1124 06 2017_02_17 P1290097 SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#5 Single shot, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, processed in Silkypix and Lightroom.

1124 09 2017_02_17 P1290318 SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

The next two were captured in very poor light underneath decking on an overcast day.

#6 27 shots, ISO 1000, f/4.3, 1/40 sec, stacked in Helicon Focus and retouched from individual images in Helicon Focus, finished in Lightroom.

1116 27 2017_02_14 Focus stack P1280383-407 HH 27i +3 (B,5,3+i) LR6 1300h-2 by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#7 18 shots, ISO 800, f/4, 1/40 sec, stacked using two different methods in Helicon Focus, retouched from one to the other in Helicon focus, finished in Lightroom.

1116 28 2017_02_14 Focus stack P1280517-34 HH 18i +3 (A,R29,3+B,5,3) LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

#8 Single shot, ISO 800, f/9, 1/30 sec, Processed in DXO Optics Pro, Silkypix and Lightroom.
This one was captured as part of an experiment with hand-held slow shutter speeds, using electronic shutter to try to counter the effects of shutter shock which is a significant issue with the 45-175 lens on G series cameras prior to the G80.

1105 12 2017_02_07 P1190488_DxO 0100RAW01cP SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
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#6 and#7 are terrific Nick. I think I need to have a look at Helicon Focus as I've never tried stacking yet.
Still waiting here for much to flower. My camellias are still tight in bud and will be a while yet I think.
 
A great set, it's nice to see nature 'waking up', love the snow drop. Must be slightly warmer your side of the Bristol Channel, I have one snowdrop and a few crocii in my garden,daffs in bud though, and if you have a ride around there are some nice displays of daffs here and there in south facing sheltered spots.
 
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Cloudforest said:
#6 and#7 are terrific Nick. I think I need to have a look at Helicon Focus as I've never tried stacking yet.
Still waiting here for much to flower. My camellias are still tight in bud and will be a while yet I think.
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete. You might want to look at this video which is about using Helicon Focus for this sort of image. In fact, it uses #7 as an example.

I'm fortunate indeed to have some subjects already. The early flowering here can be a problem of course, because if it gets colder again the few flowers and more importantly many of the buds may get burned.
 
lightshipman said:
A great set, it's nice to see nature 'waking up', love the snow drop. Must be slightly warmer your side of the Bristol Channel, I have one snowdrop and a few crocii in my garden,daffs in bud though, and if you have a ride around there are some nice displays of daffs here and there in south facing sheltered spots.
Click to expand...

Thanks Andrew. Yes, we have a mild microclimate here; that is (my wife, who knows about such things, tells me) because we are so close to the water (about 300m, up a hillside).

We don't have daffodils yet, but we do have some crocii.

Our snowdrops are spreading from the little clumps that my wife planted in 2008.

2008

February 2008 IMG_6768 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

2017

1124 07 2017_02_17 P1290305 SP7 LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

2008

February 2008 IMG_6777 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

2017

1124 11 2017_02_17 P1290268-81 HH 14i +3 (C) LR6 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr
 
GardenersHelper said:
Thanks Pete. You might want to look at this video which is about using Helicon Focus for this sort of image. In fact, it uses #7 as an example.

I'm fortunate indeed to have some subjects already. The early flowering here can be a problem of course, because if it gets colder again the few flowers and more importantly many of the buds may get burned.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Nick, I'll have a look at the video. I tried stacking an image of a daffodil in Photoshop yesterday but it wasn't quite right. It looks a useful technique though.

Like the snow drops, by the way, they look good in #2 under the tree.
 
Cloudforest said:
Thanks for that Nick, I'll have a look at the video. I tried stacking an image of a daffodil in Photoshop yesterday but it wasn't quite right. It looks a useful technique though.

Like the snow drops, by the way, they look good in #2 under the tree.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it is since last year a tree stump. We were extremely disappointed when we had to have it taken down, a large wild cherry tree (my wife tells me), Prunus Avium (Gean). In fact it had a TPO on it, but the council tree man came to have a look at it - one tap with his hammer and "oh, it's a gonner". It was hollow - and a danger to our neighbours.

Last year we also lost the other large tree we had there at the back of the garden - an old cider apple tree that blew down. Turns out it was rotten too. So my wife's small woodland garden that she has been working on for 10 years is now open to the skies. We will have to see what that does to the plants.

We will be planting a replacement for the cherry tree, but it will be years before anything throws a lot of shade up there again.
 
Lovely set, we've had blue tits in the garden cleaning out last year's box, super (y)
 
Have just watched the video, thank you for taking the time to make it and share your workflow. I will hopefully be able to find some time in the coming weeks to experiment with stacking and Helicon.
Many thanks
 
daveh said:
Have just watched the video, thank you for taking the time to make it and share your workflow. I will hopefully be able to find some time in the coming weeks to experiment with stacking and Helicon.
Many thanks
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm glad you found it helpful. I have found stacking fascinating to do and I hope you will too. I very much like some of the results that I've got, but like I suggested at the end of the video, I've got somewhat mixed feelings about it because of the issues and the amount of time it can take to deal with them (or work out that you can't deal with them).
 
Nice selection Nick - interesting to see the difference in your garden over time too.

Had a glance at the video. There's a hidden setting in Helicon I will have to look up when at home for alignment help.

Also from the top of my head I normally find Method B best. 30 - 8 settings I think.
 
ChrisA said:
Nice selection Nick - interesting to see the difference in your garden over time too.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris. My wife has built up a collection of reference shots over the years. Every now and then she sends me out to take photos of everything. It is rather boring at the time (it takes quite a while to do) but can be very useful, and very interesting too, later on.

ChrisA said:
Had a glance at the video. There's a hidden setting in Helicon I will have to look up when at home for alignment help.
Click to expand...

I shall be interested in that. I can't quite envisage what that would do - I've not found image alignment to be a problem. (There is the F9 key when retouching, to get you to the particular image used for a particular location in the stacked image.)

ChrisA said:
Also from the top of my head I normally find Method B best. 30 - 8 settings I think.
Click to expand...

I find it quite variable as to what method will work best. For example, Method B can produce strange effects in plain backgrounds. This sort of thing.


1135 1 P1260749-77 29i +3(B,Radius30,Smoothing8) 1300h by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

That is Method B with Radius 30 and Smoothing 8. Another issue that I have is that large values of Radius and large values of Smoothing (with either Method A or B) tend to reduce detail/texture/clarity and can even loose detail completely. For example, at the top left below is Method B, Radius 30, Smoothing 8, as above. The light area inside the red oval lacks detail.


1135 5 4-way comparison by gardenersassistant, on Flickr

At the top right is Method B, Smoothing 8 with the Radius reduced to 3. It has slightly more variation - not quite so completely plain.

At the bottom left is Method B with Smoothing now reduced to 2, Radius still at 3. There is some more variation in the light area.

The background has become increasingly strange as the Radius and Smoothing have been reduced.

At the bottom right Method C has more variation in the light area. (But the image is very noisy, which is especially evident in the background, and also has several little white flecks in the background up above the red oval).

Method A produces a nice background for this image, but is much worse as far as losing detail is concerned.

As discussed in the video, it is because of this sort of issue (and differences in halos) that I often combine two or occasionally more stacks done with different methods/parameters.
 
I find the alignment is an issue when handholding - I will find that setting and post. On tripod I guess you would not see it. Interesting to see the effects in your different settings. Sometimes try others - just for me that is best. Maybe the lens / F stop / other thing now sure.

And yes doing sub-stacks sometimes is the best option. Also the artifacts in background can be mooted by this - or by merging with a background shot.
 
ChrisA said:
I find the alignment is an issue when handholding - I will find that setting and post.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll be interested to see that and what it does.

ChrisA said:
On tripod I guess you would not see it. Interesting to see the effects in your different settings. Sometimes try others - just for me that is best. Maybe the lens / F stop / other thing now sure.
Click to expand...

Regarding F stop, one of the differences for me with stacking is that, at last, I'm using around sweet spot apertures. It makes a big difference in sharpness/detail (as you would expect).

ChrisA said:
And yes doing sub-stacks sometimes is the best option. Also the artifacts in background can be mooted by this - or by merging with a background shot.
Click to expand...

I've not tried background shots yet. I can see the benefit of a (presumably) smaller aperture background shot to smooth out the transition. I don't know that it would have helped with these, but in the few examples I tried with insects before they all disappeared I was very much aware of, and didn't at all like, the sudden transitions, at the front as well as at the back of the in-focus zone. Because I use focus bracketing I can see some dexterity being needed (for changing settings while retaining position) to capture the front/back transition shots hand-held (which is how I'm working most of the time now), especially with invertebrates (where time is at a premium). Getting the transition shots right might be a bit of a challenge too I imagine, in terms of where the centre of focus is to be placed for them so that they merge nicely. Or perhaps it is straightforward. Is that something you have experience with Chris?
 
This is F4 stack in the field - 11 shots
11ShotStack-F4.jpg


As you can see the background merges out to sharply imo. I really needed a F11 shot in the background - so I could clone in. I've not had luck with that yet - but was something I found out from others last year I think. So will be trying this out this year. I also must get round to stacking some still ones I have.

Also the settings to aid alignment in Helicon are under preferences. I boost all of them to the max 30%

Helicon-Settings.jpg
 
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