Dead limb on birch

You have been finding some interesting material for close-ups and having some great comp. Some real potential for great pictures! However, again, I think the focus needs to be clearer on the whole picture. You did have a very high aperture but it also means you need to process more carefully to counter lens diffraction at these high apertures. This means a fair amount of sharpening. For this picture I would tone down the lighting. I would mask out the plant and then darken the BG, inverse and saturate the plant and clone out marks/spots on the plant. Then experiment with sharpening the whole picture until you achieve a sharp look without halos. Also use of a tripod, mirror lock-up, and remote release are all extremely critical in clear macro shots. Sorry, this is probably more detail than you were expecting but you seem to be taking some really great pictures that fall just a bit short in the focus area.

Carolyn thanks for the comment. I did use a tripod and a remote trigger. Boy this is really tough. What I think is sharp it never seems sharp enough. I did sharpen a bit in lightroom before I posted this. Nobody ever told me that I also need to develop an eye for sharpness too. Thanks again for the detailed comment I know it just means that I must be close to a really great picture if you took the time to go over it with a fine tooth comb. This is what will make me better.

I tried some of your suggestions but instead I lighted the BG because it reminds me more of a birch tree. I tried to darken it but it was looking to grungy.

With macro shots, the devil is always in the details. Carolyn had some excellent processing suggestions, but having it come out right "in camera" is even more important. The depth of field for f/32 at 2 feet with a 100mm macro would be about 4 inches, f/16 about 2 inches. The question becomes "is f/32 necessary?" Granted an amount of roundness of the bark might exceed that depth, but the subject is the dead limb/leaves. Having only part of the bark in dead on focus is more than made up for by the sharp focus allowed by a faster shutter speed. Mirror lock up, if your camera has that feature, would be helpful.

My guess is that post process sharpening would not help either of these pictures as much as a locked down stable shot from a tripod with suitable release, and about twice the focal opening. This looks like camera shake to me.

PS Your repost looks much better.

Your repost looks much better, Todd! You were right to go with the lighter BG, that looks good. The lessening of the contrast in the overall picture helped considerably. Phil had some good points re aperture choice. I take an educated guess where the aperture should be and then take multiple shots changing the aperture up and down so I can later chose which looks best. That's what's great about digital! Getting the shot in focus in camera is crucial as he says. There is only so much one can do in post processing. Keep at it Todd!

First, I want to thank Carolyn and Phil for writing such excellent, helpful comments. You guys are awesome! People like you make NPN a valuable tool for all of us.

Todd, your repost is very nice! The focus is much improved, and the details look a lot better. This is a lovely image. The composition is beautiful.

Todd, I love the repost. Great eye, beautiful elements.