2018 Project 52, 1st quarter by Rudi

[rudi]

Thanks Geoff and Nandakumar for the comments.

[CormacD]

Rudi, from my perspective, all of your macro shots are stunning, well done. I don't understand the techno side of your macro gear and intend to read up about it, thanks for the information.

[Shadowman]

Nice bug shots,

[rudi]

Thanks Lindsay and John for the comments.

[skitterbug]

They don't look like the nuisance that they really are! You even have the "catch light" in #3 pic! Amazing photo work!

[rudi]

They don't look like the nuisance that they really are! You even have the "catch light" in #3 pic! Amazing photo work!

Thanks Sandy. I must admit that I look now with 'different eyes' to bugs than in my younger days...

[rudi]

week 10 : A more 'adorable' bug this week: Ladybugs... I spotted this ladybug on a cold morning 'resting' on a big cobble. When I wanted to remove the little dust on the shield, it stood up looked at me in a 'menacing way' and run off...
just enough time to get a few shots..

Shot with 7DII canon mpe65, diffused MT24EX; 'handheld', stacked using Zerene Stacker.
Some more to process from this week.

1:


2:


C&C welcome.

The last adapterring for the bellows setup finally arrived today. So time to start playing around in the coming weeks.... To be continued off course...

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[skitterbug]

Wow - I enjoy looking at these ladybug pics, especially the second one. It's no wonder this creature can hang on so well - now that I can see their pointy nails on their "feet".

[Geoff F]

Always difficult to get the exposure right on them but these images have worked well.

[rudi]

Thanks John, Sandy and Geoff for the continued comments. Much appreciated.

[rudi]

When Lindsay wrote : "... I don't understand the techno side of your macro gear and intend to read up about it..." I am not a good writer, but let me try to explain how I work:

I want to capture tiny things, or tiny area's from bigger things with as much detail as possible at a magnification higher than 1x. A magnification 1x means that on a sensor with a width off 22,4 mm, a scene off 22,4 mm wide is captured. (A magnification 2x : sensor width 22,4 mm, scene is 11,2 mm ).
DOF (Depth off Field) decreases as magnification increases (see also table bellow).

To increase the depth off field, de aperture can be stopped down (smaller aperture). The downside is that as aperture decreases, the sofftness increases due to diffraction (more abt diffraction :https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...hotography.htm).

A second option to increase the depth off field in the final image is ' Focus Stacking'. Wikipedia says:" Focus stacking (also known as focal plane merging and z-stacking[1] or focus blending) is a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different focus distances to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field (DOF) than any of the individual source images..." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking ).

The best option for me is Focus stacking.

'In the field', I use the canon mpe65mm 1-5x macro lens and try to shoot a stack whenever the oportunity arises. I use a stick as support, resting the lens on my wrist, to move up/down, left/right to get the desired position. When in position, I slowly move forwards/backwards, taking pictures when the plane of focus changes. This is often a hit and miss, but nevertheless I always try it with a cooperatif subject...

'In studio' It is a bit easier as it are most still subjects. DOF can be determined and stepsize can be set more precisely.
From now on I will be using a bellows with reversed lenses in studio.


With the current lenses (20mm, 35 mm & 50mm),theoretically I can capture pictures with a magnification up to 15x. Practically a magnification up to 7x will be more realistic I believe, due to diffraction . More testing needs to be done though...The magnification I am shooting at is determined by taking a picture off a ruler.


To change the plane off focus, the camera/lens or the subject can be moved. For the time being, I move the subject.The camera with lens is on a tripod for now. For tiny subjects, I use a 'butchered' microscoop as the subject stand, using the fine movement knob to change the plane off focus. This is all done manually now. An automated focusing rail (like 'Stackshot' or 'Wemacro') or a more precise manual fine focusing system is something to consider when the steps are getting too small for my current setup.
To choose the best aperture and to determine the DOF and the stepsize I use table 2A (for Nikon see table 2B) provided by ZereneStacker
(https://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacke.../macromicrodof)



As I am just at the beginning off my extreme macro journey, there is no doubt that I have a lot to learn and that my system an ideas will change overtime. But for now this works for me.
HTH.
Questions I will try to answer.
Any ideas or suggestions are off course always welcome.

[CormacD]

Thank you Rudi for your detailed information about how you are doing your macro work. I cannot offer any input at this stage but this gives me plenty to absorb and consider for a start.

[billtils]

.... When in position, I slowly move forwards/backwards, taking pictures when the plane of focus changes. This is often a hit and miss, but nevertheless I always try it with a cooperatif subject...

Rudi, to say I am impressed with the quality of your "in field" work is an understatement.

I am comfortable with stacking in a studio setting but have given up on trying it with "in field" shooting. However, although I routinely use the "foot focus" method I never thought of using it in the creative way that you do.

I have a couple of questions please: how many shots do you aim for in the stack, and have you tried any software other than Zerene? I know that there are some CIC members who use it - DanK being one who consistently produces excellent images - and I did try it but only "in studio" with no significant difference from the results I was obtaining from Affinity Photo. I may try again with some "in field" stacks (and adopt your foot focus technique too).

[rudi]

Your welcome Lindsay.

[rudi]

Thanks Bill,

.... although I routinely use the "foot focus" method I never thought of using it in the creative way that you do....

I didn't really wrote what I meant to write , so let me try again: 'In the field': rather than 'foot focus' I try to stabilize myself as much as possible and move only the camera/lens forward on my wrist, to have a feel for the movement, iff that makes sense...

.... I have a couple of questions please: how many shots do you aim for in the stack....

It all depends, I go from front to back, and from back to front, iff possible even a second time, usually keeping an-eye-on-the-eye. I select the best frames afterwards, renumber them and stack them.
The first ladybug in next post (post nr 78) I selected 25 frames out off 61. The second picture are 18 frames shot in one single go..before the beasty took off..As you can see often a hit and miss, with 'only' one (just maybe 2)
good picture...

.... and have you tried any software other than Zerene? .....

Well back in 2014 (I think) I also tried Helicon focus. The reason I sticked with Zerene was for the support.
I wrote some emails to both with questions. I Always got a prompt answer back from Zerene support, never one reply from Helicon Focus.
I haven't tried any other since then.
HTH.

[billtils]

Rudi

The way you describe the technique is exactly what I meant by 'foot focus' - namely changing the focus point by moving the camera and not by keeping it still and adjusting its focus settings.

Thanks for the additional information - the idea of shooting as many as you can and then selecting the best ones for the stack had not occurred to me, although I do sometimes use Affinity Photo's option to edit the stack by removing individual shots, which ends up doing the same thing. And yes indeed, customer support matters a lot .

[rudi]

Week 11:Still haven't got around to test my bellows/Rev lens setup, so two more ladybugs from last week, well actually 2 pictures from the same bug:

Shot with 7DII canon mpe65, diffused MT24EX; 'handheld', stacked using Zerene Stacker.

1:


2:I had not seen that the beasty moved quiet a bit during the shoot. But I kinda liked the 'pose'...like it was giving me a kind off warning ..



C&C always welcome

[rudi]

Rudi

The way you describe the technique is exactly what I meant by 'foot focus' - namely changing the focus point by moving the camera and not by keeping it still and adjusting its focus settings.

Thanks for the additional information - the idea of shooting as many as you can and then selecting the best ones for the stack had not occurred to me, although I do sometimes use Affinity Photo's option to edit the stack by removing individual shots, which ends up doing the same thing. And yes indeed, customer support matters a lot .

Thanks Bill,

[Wavelength]

Great closer realities!!!