Macro Photography : Condensation #1 by jwvraets

The weather continues to be uncooperative so no landscape shooting. However, I did notice a narrow band of condensation along one the window edges and decided to see what a macro would yield. Colour was not a significant factor and I had also been looking at some black and white images that I liked, so I felt inspired to go black and white for this image. Came out kind of nice. – JW

Date Taken: 2015-01-06

Tech Details:

Taken using a tripod-mounted Nikon D7100 fitted with a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lense at 1:1 two frames at slightly different focus settings (one for drop edge detail and one for internal image detail), ISO100, Aperture priority mode, f/7.1, 1/100 sec. PP in free Open Source GIMP: load both images as layers, top one is main, bottom layer is lense (one with the internal lense detail), adjust alignment of the top layer to align the droplets as well as possible, use a suitable size soft-edged eraser tool to remove the droplet internal areas from the top layer to reveal the sharper internal droplet images, create new working layer from visible result, save image as merged. PP in free Open Source RAWTherapee: slightly increase the dark level, sharpen, apply noise reduction, save. PP in free Open Source GIMP: load the cleaned up image and convert to black and white using film simulation mode for Ilford Delta 100, darken the lower section to obscure residual detail, use the tone curve tool to significantly darken the image overall and boost contrast, sharpen, add fine black and white frame, add bar and text on left, scale to 1800 wide for posting.

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