Extended DOF photo at sunrise..

[milosh]

Hello everyone,

I've been processing this photo for a while now, and I think I'm done with it.. This is a blend of three images with different parts in focus. In the first one, the flowers were in focus, in the second the grass behind flowers, and in the last tree was in focus. They were first aligned by PS (because of "focus breathing") and auto blended by PS for extended DOF, then additionally processed.

Please tell me what do you think about composition and overall processing.

Exif:
Nikon D60
Focal length: 30mm
Aperture: f16
Shutter speed: 0.3 sec
ISO: 100


Please click the image on Flickr page to see the large version for details in the grass!
Click here for Flickr page: http://flickr.com/gp/26469995@N03/A4AQSL

[Krusty79]

How much time did you spend on PP? I've heard of this technique, but haven't tried it yet. I do think it's a cool image. You have some nice colors in there also. I only have two minor points to bring up. First, the tree seems kind of distant. I find myself wanting to see it closer so I can see more detail. However, it looks like you might have had to had to compose it there to fit the flowers into the foreground. Second, I was wondering if you could get more color in the sky if you underexposed it a bit, or have you already done that?

[benchdog]

I really like this nice work

I think the composition works fell. I first notice the flowers, then to the tree, and on to the sunset. The sky over the tree looks a little blown out but I don't think it distracts from the image at all.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

How much time did you spend on PP? I've heard of this technique, but haven't tried it yet. I do think it's a cool image. You have some nice colors in there also. I only have two minor points to bring up. First, the tree seems kind of distant. I find myself wanting to see it closer so I can see more detail. However, it looks like you might have had to had to compose it there to fit the flowers into the foreground. Second, I was wondering if you could get more color in the sky if you underexposed it a bit, or have you already done that?

My estimate is, that if you work pretty fast and accurate, you can pp this photo in maybe 2-3 hours, if you know what you're doing and what you're after. I did it the first time, and then discovered some flaws, but it was already too late to reverse the process (although I try to keep my processing nondestructive and reversible as much as possible). Then I did it all over again properly. I think it took me some 4 hours (the second time). I can talk you through the steps if you want me to.

I was searching for the best way to frame this during the day, and I tried using longer focal lengths (which would bring the tree closer), but I just couldn't keep it all in. I tried it at 18mm as well, but this one worked better for me. It was a tricky thing to shoot, my camera was maybe 25cm from the ground on tripod, and upside-down. Add manual focusing and lack of live view to that, and you can imagine what I'm talking about.

I already bumped-up the colours in the sky by using a duplicate layer set to Mulitply blend mode. I also tried duplicating it once more, but it produced unwanted halos at the horizon, so I dropped it. I didn't want to further increase the saturation, to keep it gentle and natural (it was a pretty bland sunrise).

Thanks for your comments.

Originally Posted by benchdog

I really like this nice work

I think the composition works well. I first notice the flowers, then to the tree, and on to the sunset. The sky over the tree looks a little blown out but I don't think it distracts from the image at all.

Thanks! I find this photo to be one of those that really look good when viewed large, and not so much in small resolutions.