Thanks,
Kyle

I'm uncertain what you intend for the image. The OOF leaves are somewhat attractive, but the band of in focus bark doesn't provide enough interest for me. You could selectively sharpen the in focus band, but I suspect it wouldn't add significantly. This sort of image normally finds it's interest in the texture of the bark, but a narrow band isn't enough to my eyes. To gain texture on the bark for a large section of the trunk without loosing the leaf bokeh, you may need to stack multiple images with masking to limit those with sharper leaves.

Thanks For the comment AuntiPode,

AS for the leaves i definitely see what you mean, i just think the way i was doing it it was coming out bad. I was trying using TAT witht he curves. Any suggestions?
I definitely see what you mean with the small strip of in focus bark, But I don't understand how you recommend to fix it.
Thanks,
Kyle

I may reshoot this Photo trying to get the focus farther out on the tree

In the same way there are dedicated programs that will combine multiple images into a pano, there are programs that can stack multiple images that vary only in the distance at which focus is best. It's often called Z axis stacking. The program combines the parts of the image that are in focus to simulate a much greater DOF, such as you'd get from shooting with a much smaller aperture. (I've stacked the Z axis images in Photoshop CS4. The interface may not be as intuitive, but it works.) There are questions of maximum sharpness when shooting with very small apertures (diffraction) , particularly when shooting with a crop sensor camera. Also, a lens may have a small enough aperture to give a deep enough DOF. Stacking images made with different planes of sharp focus saves the day. You ought to be able to find tutorials with a google search. (I confess I stack so infrequently, when I need to stack I have to find a tutorial to remind me how.)

As for selecting portions of an image to not Z axis combine, I'm guessing it ought to be possible to mask parts of the images to leave an area with better bokeh in the result, but I admit I haven't had an image I needed to try it on. Alternately, I know it's possible stack images for a larger DOF and then mask out the leaves and mask in the leaves again from one of the images with the best bokeh, achieving the same effect.

If stacking images is too intimidating, try using a tripod and shooting withe smaller apertures, up to the smallest available.

Ok so stacking is like taking two photos with different dof of the same thing to get a bigger dof?

What do you mean when you say z axis combine and bokeh and "mask out the leaves"

Thanks a lot for all the great advice!!!

1) Yes.

2) Imagine an image with the closest section of bark in sharp focus and the leaves blurred from being out of focus. (The blurring pattern is called Bokeh, after the Japanese term for blurred, I believe.) If you want most of the trunk in focus (much more than in the imagined first image) and the leaves out of focus, as in the first imagined image, imagine refocusing the camera further up the tree so that the DOF where the image is sharp slightly overlaps the DOF of the first. Then take another with the DOF moved further up the tree, etc. In the last image with the DOF far up the trunk, the leaves will be much sharper. If you like the blurred leaves of the first image, you'll need to be sure the sharp leaves from the last image are not included in the stacked result, or replace them in the result with the leaf bokeh from the first. That way the final image will have most of the tree trunk sharp but the leaves blurred.

Yes, it's somewhat advances Photoshop, but it's one way to make your POV work, if re-shooting with a small aperture isn't enough or the leaf bokeh is lost.

Ok thanks a lot Aunti POde.
I think i'll give that a try.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok I went back out recently and took a slightly different shot of bark. Tell me what you think.



Thanks

I prefer the second.. more in focus is easier on the eyes and gives more to explore.