"f/1.4 and be there"

In 2018 I spent many hours at Westonbirt, The UK's National Arboretum:
https://www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt-the-national-arboretum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westonbirt_Arboretum

I used my Pentax K-1II and Pentax-D FA* 50mm F1.4 lens .
For fun, I used 1/2000th at f/1.4 for all 754 photos.

This is rather like the well-known expression "ƒ/8 and be there".
Strip-out technical complexity and concentrate on what matters; taking the photos.
(At an airshow I typically use f/8 as long as there is sufficient light).

Here are a few of the results; I down-sized the original DNGs to 75%.

As usual, I used Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
(I subscribe to the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite).

I did most of the processing in Lightroom Classic.

Then little more than down-sizing (to 75%) and sharpening in Photoshop.
(I do final sharpening after down-sizing).

(I don't claim Adobe products are superior to all others; but they are what I use).

Beautiful colours.

Rod Herdman wrote:

Beautiful colours.

Yes.

Unfortunately I can't take credit for that!;-)

Except that I tracked their predictions of autumn colours and got lucky.

Seems genuinely sharp.

A stars pic would tell me something

Barry Pearson wrote:

As usual, I used Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
(I subscribe to the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite).

I did most of the processing in Lightroom Classic.

Then little more than down-sizing (to 75%) and sharpening in Photoshop.
(I do final sharpening after down-sizing).

(I don't claim Adobe products are superior to all others; but they are what I use).

I think you sharpened too much in the first photo, I see noise and artifacts in the bokeh.

Probably you don't see this in prints.

Jozef.

Jozef M wrote:

Barry Pearson wrote:

As usual, I used Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
(I subscribe to the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite).

I did most of the processing in Lightroom Classic.

Then little more than down-sizing (to 75%) and sharpening in Photoshop.
(I do final sharpening after down-sizing).

(I don't claim Adobe products are superior to all others; but they are what I use).

I think you sharpened too much in the first photo, I see noise and artifacts in the bokeh.

Fair comment!

I did all the processing on my (relatively new) laptop.
I'm finding it tricky to judge the sharpening.

I suspect if you look carefully at the others, you will find similar problems in some others.:-(

(When I'm printing, I sharpen specifically for the purpose, and do some tests).

Joseph Tainter wrote:

Nice series. I especially like the first mushroom shot and the berries.

My favourites too!

kriztian wrote:

It was my reaction to. Very nice pictures but I believe they don´t have to be as sharp as they are. They will look very good anyway. I like the first mushroom pic and the berries best.

Agree with you. totally!
Excellent mushrooms!

Enjoyable , enjoyed . 1.4 is only an extension of yo mind . Though you have said you cannot take credit for the colors , ` beauty is in the eyes of the beholder`.

Regards ,

mrp .

Tord S Eriksson wrote:

kriztian wrote:

It was my reaction to. Very nice pictures but I believe they don´t have to be as sharp as they are. They will look very good anyway. I like the first mushroom pic and the berries best.

Agree with you. totally!
Excellent mushrooms!

There is a consensus that I over-sharpened some (perhaps all?) of the photos.
I'm going up a steep learning curve on using my (relatively new) laptop!

Here are a few of them with only the Lightroom sharpening I used before.
No additional Photoshop sharpening; but I have again downsized to 75%.

Comments, including harsh criticism, welcome.
I need to learn how to get this right!

PortrayingLife wrote:

Barry Pearson wrote:

Tord S Eriksson wrote:

kriztian wrote:

It was my reaction to. Very nice pictures but I believe they don´t have to be as sharp as they are. They will look very good anyway. I like the first mushroom pic and the berries best.

Agree with you. totally!
Excellent mushrooms!

There is a consensus that I over-sharpened some (perhaps all?) of the photos.
I'm going up a steep learning curve on using my (relatively new) laptop!

Here are a few of them with only the Lightroom sharpening I used before.
No additional Photoshop sharpening; but I have again downsized to 75%.

Comments, including harsh criticism, welcome.
I need to learn how to get this right!

Fine-tune the image as you have always done, but go light using the Clarity slider, if at all.

Downsize for publication.

After downsizing, examine the image for 'noise' artifacts.

Next, target the 'problem' areas with LR Classic's ADJUSTMENT BRUSH tool, Auto Mask enabled. Make sure areas and edges you wish to remain sharp are NOT included in the resulting mask by fine-tuning the mask with the tool's Erase option. Once you have the refinement area identified to you liking, use the Texture slider & Density slider to address the 'noise' to your satisfaction. (Texture tends to smudge. Density determines how much reads through.) Which setting combination is most pleasing... that's your call.

Works for me might work for you.

Cheers... M

Thanks! Very helpful.
I've allowed myself to get a bit out of touch with some of the more advanced features if Lightroom.

I've bookmarked your post. I'll probably start by not using clarity.
Then play around with your other options.

The first one of the tree is a surprisingly effective f1.4 shot.  Really nice color palette, too.

Really nice.

Terry K1 wrote:

Really nice.

Thanks!

With all the debate in this forum about what the future APSC flagship may be like:

We can at least share appreciation about what the current Pentax K-1II and current Pentax DFA* 50mm f/1.4 can do!

Excellent job, now I want one...

Seriously, lovely photos, especially the mushrooms! Love those ones.