Macro 2012

[mvanrheenen]

Yes it does, thank you. I was afraid it was some nasty effect of the post process as you see in hdr for example. I'm glad it's not. I can imagine this focus stacking with a narrow DOF as with macros isn't doable without some sort of macro focus rig, is it?

[sury]

Mark,
My "rig" is very simple. A cheap eBay macro slider (x and z axis) and I use my tripod for y axis. My remote batter died so I used my
dimage remote clicker (wired). From that point, it is click and move the slider by a notch and click. I am wondering if I can get my
Vivitar 90 with 1:1 adapter and scan across x axis and z axis. That is as simple as that. When I used A900, I used HVL58/HVL20 for indoor
shots. The built in flash is good enough for A700. My next lesson is to try some lighting for dramatic effects that I have seen by real
artists. Learning never stops ( and it shouldn't either ).

[mvanrheenen]

Thanks for the explanaition Sury and you're right, you never stop learning.

Mark

[sury]

Here is an example using alternate technique in Zerene Stacker to address the "halo" that Mark pointed out. I notice a bit of loss of detail compared
to previous one. I am trying to figure out combining the two.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigsu ... .jpg[/img]
2012-05-09-06.17.28 ZS DMap738761ER15 by BigSury, on Flickr[/url]

[mvanrheenen]

Hi Sury,

In this image (beautiful btw ), you see the warped rims of the flower and stem. I read the tutorial about using DMap and it seems that this is caused by feeding random focussed images to the software. The practice they subscribe is focussing in order from front to back, or back to front.

I'm very interested in this technique, not for myself perse, but for the missus who loves to do flower and fungi macros.

Thanks for sharing.

Mark

[sury]

Mark,
You are absolutely right about random sequence. These are taken and loaded into SW sequentially. My problem is more of the flower movement
due to breeze and that potentially "simulating" the randomness in the sequence. That is my theory. I was "learning" on the field, for I did not know
what I was doing, being pilot project and all.

I did tweak the settings on Dmap option and also I have not managed to get those settings right yet. Eventually, I hope.

With best regards,
Sury

[mvanrheenen]

I'm sure you will Sury. I'm planning on doing some stacking experiments myself tonight. I'll post my findings. Thanks Sury, I already learned a lot from your trials and information!

Mark

[mvanrheenen]

Well, here goes: stacked from 21 images. Background lit (unevenly unfortunately) by a 42AM on 1/4 power triggered remotely by the onboard flash, shot with an a390 and Tamron 90 Macro on a tripod and ballhead, f/8, ISO 100. Stacked with Zerene Stacker.

Most difficult was taking tiny focus steps manually. I now no why people who do macro's regularly use a macro rail

Image is click able for full size. Only cropped for 4:3 format. No other PP done.

[sury]

Nicely done!!! To get 21 images without the rail is impressive. Could lower power on flash or repositioning it help
capture some details on the petals? Just wondering.

One thing I tried couple of years ago before I had rails is to keep the camera on tripod and change the focus by
one millimeter or so at a time and get stack. With rail, you move the camera, with this technique, camera does not move
but focus changes. It does change the perspective a bit but I would think ZS can handle it. I certainly had a better luck
with combineZ software with that technique but never pursued that after couple of tries.

With best regards,
Sury

[mvanrheenen]

Nicely done!!! To get 21 images without the rail is impressive. Could lower power on flash or repositioning it help
capture some details on the petals? Just wondering.

Probably, but I'm really bad with lighting

One thing I tried couple of years ago before I had rails is to keep the camera on tripod and change the focus by
one millimeter or so at a time and get stack. With rail, you move the camera, with this technique, camera does not move
but focus changes.

That's exactly how I've done this. I never would've guessed how hard it would be to turn a focus ring just a millimeter at a time

It does change the perspective a bit but I would think ZS can handle it.

Yes it does and the software handles it very good, as you can see!

Mark

[Marcell Nikolausz]

For macro I still prefer my sony a100, but I'm also trying to strech the macro capability of my nex system. Today I used the SEL50F18, which is not really good even for close-ups. Adding an achromat lens (marumi 5dp) improves it a bit but you need to crop the pictures. One example from today:


Cheers

Marcell

[Marcell Nikolausz]

Nicely done!!! To get 21 images without the rail is impressive. Could lower power on flash or repositioning it help
capture some details on the petals? Just wondering.

Probably, but I'm really bad with lighting


Hi Mark!

I agrre that with a better lighting this picture could be improved a lot. I played with stacking last year and I have a similar picture. Stacked from 4 handheld pictures but a ringflash was used for better lighting:



Cheers

Marcell

[sury]

Marcell,
Nice photo overall. One thing though is that Ring flash did a great job in the bottom middle of the flower but still overexposed the petals.

With best regards,
Sury

[Greg Beetham]

Some great subjects and photos guys.
Greg

[mvanrheenen]

So, all you macro lovers, are you up for a real challenge?