I knew today would be busy (and cold) so late last night (or early this morning more accurately), I set up these lily buds and used one of our spot ceiling lights to serve as the sun. Took several shots, some individual, some bracketed. This is a composite of three shots combined in HDR Efex Pro, at 85mm f/8 at 1/5, 1/6, and 1/8 handheld. I started with a preset but did a bunch of stuff with the sliders so don't think I can reproduce it ever again (brightness, contrast, structure). I think using control spot to increase the structure on the base of the main bud helped but the rest of it was done on 'smooth' and 'low structure' settings.
Alternative version and processing in main album: http://365project.org/taffy/the-also-ran-ph/2014-01-15
So clever and creative Taffy! I love this! I always take careful note of what you do with hdr so that I can improve my shots. Lots to learn! I would never have thought of using hdr for a close-up shot like this!
@pamknowler Thanks Pam! I'm finding all kinds of uses for HDR now that I understand how the right hand sliders work and am not limited to the presets. You can use it to just sharpen up almost anything. And the control points let you take it away in spots too (or put it in).
A delight and a fav. Do you know Robert Mapplethorpe's flower photography. I have the book, it is a stunning book. Now this has elements of a Mapplethorpe without being straight off the page. I think you'd like his work with flowers!!
