Australian_Photography__Digital_-_September_2015_

80 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

IMAGE DOCTOR

AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY + DIGITAL SEPTEMBER 2015

Keep it simple

Julie Castieau writes: “I have always liked the early

bloom of Melbourne’s cherry blossom street trees,

before they go into full leaf. I cut off a branch, took

it home and photographed it in front of a white matt

board, then used a filter to invert it in PhotoShop

Elements which transformed the colours from the

pink blossom, leaving a surreal looking blossom of

green-blue hues in front of a dark background.

I then added a darker vignette and a border

matching the inverted blossom colour. I tried to get

an ‘Asian scroll’ type of effect, but I need to work

on this effect more. I used a softened version of the

original as a memorial/anniversary card to friends

who have lost loved-ones.”

The inverted, other-worldly blue version has

strong ‘pop’ effect, but for me the original is

far nicer. I find it interesting that you send the

understated original to friends for memorials, but

the inverted version to Image Doctor. The colours

of the original are pretty, the black stem provides

a nice outline against the background, and the

soft lighting suits the subject well. Did you have

a problem with the grey shadow against the white

backdrop? If so, you could have lifted the branch off

the background and hung it further away and from

above to get rid of it. However, the pink version

works well and the shadow adds some dimension.

SA I M A’S T I P: Simple subjects don’t need special

effects to make them more interesting.

TITLE: Winter Blossom

PHOTOGRAPHER: Julie Castieau

Macro a challenge
Arisara Uaprommat writes: “I found this funny
praying mantis peeping through a coriander bush
in my veggie patch. It was just like he wanted to
say ‘hello’ to me. It was so cute! It was quite hard to
get a sharp image as the bush was swaying in the
breeze and I had to be quick before it ran away.”
This is pretty good with that amazing-looking
greenish-yellow fellow almost hidden in all that
green camouf lage, but the problem with a macro
lens is the lack of depth of field. This makes it
hard to get as much of the key parts of the creature

• such as the eyes – as well as other parts of the
  body in sharp focus. You could get more depth of
  field, and hence more of the mantis in focus, by
  using f/5.6 or f/8 rather than f/2.8 as your aperture
  setting. An option would be to bracket in shutter
  mode for more choice with the apertures. As these
  critters are not generally fast-moving, you could’ve
  had enough time to fiddle with settings and also
  wait for the bush to stop moving before you took
  your shot.

SA I M A’S T I P: Macro lenses give very little depth
of field, and shooting with the aperture wide open
(at f/2.8) gives the least depth of field – hence the
least sharpness throughout.

TITLE: Hi there
PHOTOGRAPHER: Arisara Uaprommat
DETAILS: Camera: OMD-EM5 with M.Zuiko
Digital 60mm f/2.8 macro lens, 1/125s @ f/2.8, 200
ISO. Slightly increased saturation and sharpened
in iPhoto.