Pot plants? Well…Bonsai at any rate

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Mike Jones

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Mike
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As per my initial introduction the one passion I do have is my outdoor Bonsai collection. To date the photography has been pretty pants but have much advice of late from one quarter or another, so thought I would share just a handful that I have taken improved photographs of. Hope you enjoy them.

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GardenersHelper said:
Very much like the first two - beautiful plants and nice pictures of them.

Some of the images look a bit noisy, especially the fourth one. Do you have any idea what caused the noise?
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Yes Nick. Creation of layers and masks in Elements to run with a grain feature which does not in all honesty work as you rightly identify. Initially it was to remove creasing in the backdrop as I cannot get a great distance between subject and backdrop. I have however devised a better way now.

Mike
 
BandyQuill said:
have you thought about using a longger exposure with a flash of light from 45 degreese from the camera, some of the images look like the flash has overpowered the contrast a bit...

but feel free to smack me down if im wrong XD (might just need a contrast/levels tweak
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No ... that does make sense. Only thing is just one of the shots was a flash. Does it make a lot of difference what monitor you view them on? On my big i-Mac they look stunning, on this small Samsung netbook they look wrong.:help:

Mike
 
Hi mike
1,3,5 look fine to me, nice shots. 2 seems to look as though its been cut out and pasted and 5 is noisy but overall fantastic trees, I,ve seen bonsai in Japan but these impress me(y)..Mick
 
mickyluv said:
2 seems to look as though its been cut out and pasted..Mick
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Well spotted Mick. Now I look at it again, so it does. Looks like a black border around the upper edges of the foliage on the upper branches. Presumably caused by ...

Mike Jones said:
...Creation of layers and masks in Elements to run with a grain feature ...
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Mike Jones said:
Does it make a lot of difference what monitor you view them on?
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Yes indeed. Calibrating your monitor(s) can make a big difference to what is visible. On a well-calibrated monitor you can see subtleties of light and colour that are invisible on a less well-calibrated monitor. The ambient lighting can also make a big difference too - my PC is in a room with a glass door and a window. I have a curtain I pull across the door and a translucent blind I use on the window when I am working on photos on brighter, sunny days.


BandyQuill said:
on my calibrated monitor they look a bit grey and non contrasty...
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Yes, on mine too, apart from the first one. You might like to try using Levels on them - just pull the middle marker under the graph to the right and watch what happens.
 
No copy and paste used on number two, just a duplicate then selection, invert, adjustment layer then gradient to get rid of all the horrible creasing.

Mike
 
I have been following Caleb's route to try to show the tree/s off in a better background situation. I shall also have a go in the spring at getting the Bonsai onto the lawn on a pedestal and shoot against either sky or green background of trees heavily out of focus and see what happens.

Anyway, I just tried the route suggested by Caleb. I'm actually pretty pleased as it does give a 3 dimensional view rather than a flat 2D image. Well, I'm pleased at any rate.

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Beautiful! I love Bonsai trees and have had the odd one or two. I even managed to keep one for about three years, but you only need one day without water and a hot day and it's Goodnight Vienna.

If I even look at one now in a garden centre, the boss just drags me away! :D
 
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