Autum Fungi , Stacked Focus vs Conventional Capture

[James G]

Every Autumn I start looking for Fungi to shoot. Its been a slow start this year with very little showing up in my area. But I'll keep hunting for the next six weeks or so and hope to find a few more species.
This year though I have been experimenting with focus stacking for larger specimens.
I took two sets of images of a 'mature' Honey Fungus and then generated a focus stack for each. I then selected the 'best' overall image from within each sequence using overall sharpness as the primary criterion.
Finally, I applied the same post processing to each of the images.
I'd be interested in some feedback as to which technique CiC members think works best. (and any other C&C as appropriate.)

#1 Focus Stack


#2 Conventional


#3 Focus Stack


#4 Conventional

[Stagecoach]

James,

Personally I prefer the unstacked images in these examples. My reasoning is that the stacking has done little to improve the detail of the main subject and isolate from the remainder of the image.

Grahame

[James G]

Grahame, thanks for your feedback, I usually generate stacked focus images for 'small' subjects where there is very limited depth of field. The additional detail tends to put the image in context. With a subject as large as this, intuitively, I agree with you that foreground and background should be blurred to make the main subject stand out. But I'm seriously confusing myself over these Fungi, I can't seem to make up my mind.
At one moment I prefer the conventional capture, and then the next I'm swivelling and preferring the detail in the stacked image.

Perverse of me and I think I really need to take myself in hand! James

[Clactonian]

+1 for conventional edit. I think the dof on stacked images just adds confusion to the eye.
Impressive fungi.

[KCBrecks]

For me there is more detail to the main subject, the fungus, in #1 than in #2 but I like the separation of the subject from the background in #2 as I think that makes it stand out more. Perhaps a little more work, extracting the subject from #1 and superimposing it on #2 would be a worthwhile experiment.

I prefer #4 to #3.

They are two magnificent growths though.

Keith

[chauncey]

You aren't giving us much information concerning lens/DOF, so...between the two, it's a toss-up.
Were it me, armed with 20/20 hindsight, I would do a reshoot...after some gardening/pruning to rid the image of any distractions, be they leaves or other flora.
Stacking images is generally reserved for situations where the lighting doesn't allow for sufficient DOF to encompass the entire subject...that doesn't appear to be the case in this scenario.

In the reshoot...go with your lens that gives you the best bokeh, generally achieved with the lens close to wide open, maybe f/4, and see what works best. You might even try to go with a longer DOF at the front of the fungi and gradually reduce DOF as you move toward the rear.

[James G]

Thanks all,
as I said earlier, I've been swivelling a bit over these shots, and they were in the nature of an experiment. I suppose the conclusion is that stacking will work with large subjects, but in this instance it does not make for better imaging.

Chauncey, thanks, I agree with your comments about use of stacking in respect of poor light / limited depth of field. I have previously used the technique for macro shots in the past.
I've been out and about since and found a few more specimens. Though there is a distinct shortage of fungi this year compared with the same time last year

These were shot on a local wood and the light was pretty poor. All the imagers are result of stacked focus. In the case of the Shaggy Parasol I limited the stack to keep the background out of focus.

Capture Details: Canon 7d, Canon 100mm Macro, Helicon remote to step focus using tethered Nexus 7 tablet
Slime Fungus F11, 1sec, ISO 400 (12 images)
Sulphur tuft & Slime Fungus F11, 1sec, ISO 400 (16 images)
Shaggy Parasol F2.8, 1/30 sec ISO 200 ( 5 images ) 10 captured 5 discarded

Scrambled Egg Slime Fungus (Fuligo Septica)


Sulphur Tuft( Hypholoma fasciculare) and Scrambled Egg Slime Fungus (Fuligo Septica)


Shaggy Parasol( Lepiota rhacodes sp)

[rstone]

Incredible James! May I ask what planet this was shot on? I mean..... I've never seen anything like this on Earth. I've gotta get out more...

BTW, I like the sharpness...

[James G]

rstone, (sorry, you havn't supplied a given name, )

Glad you liked them. The Slime fungus doesn't look much at first, the patch was only about an inch in diameter and doesn't look much till you get close. The location , by the way, is a mixed species wood near where I live . This slime mould is found all over (the world), on decaying material.

James

[redsea]

The conventional images are very well defined, with dof and sharpness. I think that stacking is more useful fro very small macro images that have an extremely short dof.