Choices

The image as I had imagined it when making it. This image is a result of 12 images
focus stacked and processed in Helicon Focus 6 and Lightroom CC. (click to enlarge)

In our digital photographic world today, we have so many choices as to how best we want our images to look in their final stage.  The two images here illustrate that fact.

The other day, I noticed that the lilies were blooming.  I knew I wanted to make a macro image of the flower and started to look for a satisfactory bloom.  I carefully cut one and placed it into water.

Next, I set up an easy, what I call "down and dirty" macro setup on my kitchen table, which has a north facing window.  A tripod, a tall glass with the flower and a black background.  No additional lighting.  Due to space and camera considerations, I decided to use my Nikon D810 with the Tamron 90mm macro lens, which focuses to 1:1.  Initially, I wanted to use my Fujifilm X-T1, but don't currently have a macro lens for it and my makeshift method of using the 55-200 lens with the Nikon 6T filter would do the job, but as I said, space constraints would have made it difficult since I would have to use a longer focal length than the 90mm macro.

I pulled out my ancient piece of black velvet, opened up my big Induro carbon fiber tripod then attached the Nikon and Tamron for the images I had in my mind.  I kept the ISO on 100, which would necessitate a shutter speed of about 1 second for f/8 and 4 seconds for f/16.  I then went about making a number of images with various compositions.

One thing I had planned from the beginning was focus stacking the images so I could have everything in focus from front to back.  I haven't done much of that in the past, but this type of situation was perfect for me to try it again and improve my skills.  I made two versions of each composition by focus stacking a series of images at both f/8 and f/16. Additionally, I made some images at f/16 that were not destined to be focus stacked.  For this endeavor, I set the camera on manual, used live view and manually focused each image carefully.

After making a sufficient number of images to satisfy my vision, I proceeded to import them into Lightroom CC for editing.  I use Helicon Focus 6 for the focus stacking.  Again, a piece of software I'm just getting to learn.

Here is where the choices come in. Normally, I don't like to look at my images for a few days after I made them as I want to somewhat forget the excitement and feelings I had while making them and emotionally detach the image editing process from the experience itself.  But, I wanted to see these images and see how well I was learning focus stacking so I set out to edit them the same day.

Immediately I became conflicted as to how I wanted a final image to look.  I decided on a particular image that I wanted to eventually print large and frame.  I kept toying with it but just couldn't get it to my satisfaction. I increased and decreased saturation and clarity.  I increased and decreased luminance and color balance.  I worked on the image for quite some time but I just couldn't find what I was looking for.  I decided to sleep on it.  With many things, walking away is the best temporary solution.  It allows me to subconsciously process and problem solve over time. This method has always worked well for me.

The next day I went through the same process unable to resolve in my mind the amount of saturation, detail, color balance that most pleased what I had in mind when I made the image.  Again, I walked away and went about the day, only occasionally thinking about the image.

Only on the third day did it finally hit me as to how I wanted that image to look.  It wasn't sharp from front to back as I had made is by focus stacking 12 separate images.  My preference, it turns out, is that I wanted a somewhat "diffused" image with only the yellow, center spadix sharp and the rest of the image soft and slightly ethereal in nature. I wanted "softness" not a harsh, every tiny detail visible, scientific look.  I wanted the colors to blend into each other.  I wanted beauty, not a scientific specimen.  It took me three days to get there but that is the one I decided upon as my final preference.

This is the image as I decided I wanted it to look—diffused with only the yellow spdix sharp.  I wanted
more of a diffused, ethereal look instead of a clinically sharp look. (click to enlarge)

Two lessons to be learned for me with this experience.  First, isn't it nice to be able to have choices, such as described here, long after we return from a photo shoot?  Isn't nice to be able to craft an image in various ways to suit our mood? Isn't' nice that technology allows us to expand our vision beyond what we had originally imagined, even after leaving the scene?

Second, I reinforced to myself that editing my images too closely to when I made them never seems to allow my mind to see them with "fresh eyes" and causes confliction and uncertainty in the process of finalizing the look I am after.  I just need to put them away and go back to them after a few days.

I find photographing today so much more satisfying than in the past.  The digital world has allowed me to do things and create final images in ways I never would have been able to do in the past.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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